• Documentaries & TV Shows
• City of Rio Rancho Channel 51
• Community Videos
• Video Oral History Interviews for Community Organizations

DOCUMENTARIES & TV SHOWS

Avista’s documentary work has been aired on television and has had public viewings in local museums. Five of these History/Biography projects have won national Telly Awards.

• A news documentary was created for National Geographic that featured the Washoe Tribe of Lake Tahoe.

• “Old Friends of New Mexico,” a 13-part series of one-half hour episodes about significant, community-minded New Mexicans, aired on PAX-TV’s Albuquerque affiliate in the summer and fall of 1999. One of the episodes, The Lovelace Doctors, was a First Place national Telly Awards winner in the “TV or Cable Program - Program Documentary” category. Follow the link above for a 15-minute excerpt from the first episode (The Generation of Quiet Heroes).

  PLEASE NOTE: For your convenience, this video has been uploaded to YouTube - following the link above will take you to the YouTube page containing the selected video.

  You can also view a commercial for this series on our Video Samples page.

  SPECIAL PROGRAMMING NOTE: The full 13-part Old Friends of New Mexico series will air again beginning Saturday, August 28, 2010 at Noon (and continuing the same time each week) on Channel 26. For your convenience, here is a description of each episode in the series.

  • Episode 1 - The Generation of Quiet Heroes
  • Episode 2 - Hal Olson: An Artist’s Memory of War
  • Episode 3 - Skip Randall: A Dance History
  • Episode 4 - Senior Hall of Fame Video Tributes, 1997 -1998
  • Episode 5 - Senior Hall of Fame Video Tributes, 1999
  • Episode 6 - Fun Family Stories: Teresa Barresi & Alta Marks
  • Episode 7 - AAUW Albuquerque 70 Year History
  • Episode 8 - Francisco Chavez: Family History
  • Episode 9 - Remembering Gina Nierenberg
  • Episode 10 - A Genealogy & History: The Glotzbach Family
  • Episode 11 - From the Ranch to the Roundhouse: Bruce & Alice King
  • Episode 12 - Pioneers in Architecture & Dental Hygiene
  • Episode 13 - Lovelace Doctors of New Mexico

"Lisa Witt approached Lovelace to sponsor Avista’s “Old Friends of New Mexico” TV series. One of the episodes featured The Lovelace Doctors in Modern Medicine. That episode won a national award! We were pleased with the response to “Old Friends” and delighted to be a sponsor."

Marlene Baca, Director, Lovelace Senior Services

• “Candelaria’s Story: The History of the Armijo Family in Old Town Albuquerque,” was produced as an accompaniment to an exhibit of the same name at the Albuquerque Museum.

• “The History of Conchas Dam” and “The History of Santa Rosa Dam” are permanently on view at the Dams’ Visitor Centers. These projects were produced for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

• “The Move of the 2926” was shown to 400 people at a WHEELS Museum fundraiser, and will be displayed at the new WHEELS Museum in downtown Albuquerque when it opens. The documentary focuses on how the Railway and a team of volunteers moved Steam Locomotive No. 2926 from a park to a new home adjacent to the museum. It won a “First Place” Telly Award in the “History-Biography” category.

"Avista has produced several documentaries for The WHEELS Museum that were the highlight of our last two fundraisers. Avista takes great pride in working with our elderly railroad workers to document their stories. We are undertaking several more projects with Avista that we hope to include as exhibits in the Museum when it opens."

Leba Freed, President The WHEELS Museum

• “The Bibos: Native Americans and Jews on the Frontier” was shown at the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society’s annual conference in 1997.
• “Congregation Albert — 100 Years of Community,” chronicling the parallel history and growth of Albuquerque and this Reform Jewish congregation, won a “Finalist” designation from the Telly Awards in the “History/Biography category. It can currently be seen in Congregation Albert’s library.

"Thank you for the great video for Congregation Albert’s 100 Year History! I think it is wonderful to have such an inspiring piece about the temple and our history and heritage. I truly appreciate all the hard work you did to make the video and to make the history day so great…We will certainly be using the video to showcase the temple!."

Karen Kahn, Past President Congregation Albert

• “Jewish Pioneer Oral Video History Archive Project.” Avista owner Lisa Witt is project director for this major endeavor, which is sponsored by the New Mexico Jewish Historical Society in cooperation with the University of New Mexico’s History Department and Center for Regional Studies. The Jewish communities of New Mexico have longstanding and deep connections to this state. Yet, theirs are some of the stories that are rarely told in the larger context of the state’s history. The project will collect and videotape the stories and materials of Jewish life in New Mexico from 1850 to 1920. Avista’s role is to videotape the interviews with descendants of the pioneer families. The tapes and transcribed interviews will be available at the State Archives and Record Center in Santa Fe and at UNM.
• Hal Olsen Interview on WWII Nose Art for the American Air Power Heritage Museum in Midland, TX in June/July 2001.

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CITY OF RIO RANCHO CHANNEL 51

The City of Rio Rancho hired Avista to “jumpstart” its public access and government cable TV station in 1999. Avista left the City well positioned to bring the station’s functions in-house when the contract concluded in 2000. John Ortiz, Channel 51’s manager, also works on the Avista team.

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COMMUNITY VIDEOS

This area of our business continues to grow, so we have created a separate page dedicated to these projects. Please click here to visit our Community Videos page.

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VIDEO ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEWS FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Avista has developed a special niche working with community organizations to document their senior storytellers while the stories can still be told. In this regard, Avista has worked with the following organizations to capture their elder members’ stories.

• New Mexico Women’s Forum
• State Bar of New Mexico Senior Lawyers Division
• University of Colorado School of Law
• The Wheels Museum
• New Mexico Jewish Historical Society’s Jewish Pioneer Project

The goal is to interview these senior storytellers, transcribe the interview for maximum distribution and retain the digital video files for use in a future documentary.

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