Karen Kocher
Lecturer
E-mail: karenkocher@mail.utexas.edu
Office: CMA 5.128
Phone: 512-471-0932
M.F.A., University of Texas at Austin
Curriculum Vitae - PDF
Six years ago, inspired by the phenomenal archival collection at the Austin History Center , Karen, began research for Austin Past and Present, a multimedia history of the City of Austin for use in public kiosks, schools and libraries.
Using the power of interactive technology and a video-rich approach, Kocher and her talented team, working with many local experts from the fields of history, architecture, geology, archeology and paleontology, have produced a comprehensive multimedia journey that illuminates Austin’s history from the geologic formation of the area to the present day. Click here to learn more
Prior to Austin Past and Present, Kocher worked as an associate producer and project manager for Cortex Communications, creating educational multimedia products for Holt, Rinehart and Winston, including the CD-ROM to accompany the middle school history curriculum, Exploring America’s Past, which netted a 1998 Texas Interactive Media Achievement Award for Outstanding Achievement in Information/Reference.
After learning the multimedia production ropes, she collaborated with Marshall Frech and Elliot Malkin, creating Barton Springs Interactive (1997), a CD-ROM chronicling the history, culture and science of Barton Springs in Austin , Texas for the Texas Environmental Center . This CD-ROM, containing videos, games and maps is part of the permanent display at the Beverly Sheffield Education Center in the SPLASH! exhibit at Barton Springs. This project was awarded the Texas Interactive Media Award for Public Service at the SXSW Interactive Festival.
Also part of the permanent display at SPLASH! is the more experimental, Springs Symphony (2000), a 16mm cinematic poem set to original music by Austin-based musician, David “guitar” Murray . This film chronicles life above and below the water at Barton Springs pool over the course of a year, and through span of a day. Springs Symphony aired on PBS as part of The Territory, an independent media showcase in 2000.
Prior to her work as an independent media and multimedia producer, Ms. Kocher worked with Galán Productions on two nationally broadcast PBS documentaries. Her credits include associate producer for episode one of award-winning series Chicano!: a History of the Mexican American Civil Rights Movement. She also assisted Academy-award nominated editor, Sandra Adair as an assistant editor on Songs of the Homeland, a documentary exploration of conjunto music history.
Ms. Kocher received her M.F.A. in film and video production from the University of Texas at Austin in 1995. Her 1994 thesis film, Common Ground: the Battle for Barton Springs garnered a regional Academy Award and many other festival awards. It was picked up for distribution through The Video Project distribution company.
More on APP
Austin Past and Present is a multimedia journey through Austin ’s history from 300 million years ago to the present day. Austin Past and Present contains over 2 hours of video documentary divided into eight segments by time and seven original cartoon maps that lay out the City geographically and includes over 300 historic image and text slide shows that feature the people, places and events in Austin’s history including an extensive section on the historically underrepresented, East Austin.
Austin Past and Present project makes its debut in kiosks located in City buildings, libraries; and schools in late fall 2006. A two-hour KLRU special featuring the videos created for the project will also air at this time. The project will be published by the Waterloo Press and will sold as a fundraising tool for the Austin History Center through the Austin History Center Association, www.ahca-store.com.
While Kocher is the creative force behind the project, she has not done it alone. Austin Past and Present has enjoyed generous public, foundation, corporate and individual support, and a top-notch team of scholars and production personnel. The team includes historian David C. Humphrey, author of Austin :an Illustrated History as well as award-winning media artists, scholars, archivists and technical consultants. In addition to the core team, over 150 other Austinites, including many volunteers, have collaborated to bring this project to the people of Austin . Voices of historic characters have been played by local luminaries such as Ann Richards, Larry Wright, Mayor Will Wynn and Karen Kuykendall. Austin-based artists who have lent their talents to the project include: fiddler, Darcy Deaville, Tish Hinojosa, pianist Billy Wolfe. David Murray of the band Chaparral wrote much of the project’s original music. Author Stephen Harrigan was the project’s script doctor and Austin-based, documentary filmmaker Hector Galán is the series narrator.
Austin Past and Present has been funded through the Austin History Center Association and the Austin Film Society by the following donors: The City of Austin, Humanities Texas, the MFI Foundation, the Junior League of Austin, The Austin Community Foundation, The Summerlee Foundation of Dallas, The Brown Foundation, Austin Energy, the U.T. College of Communication, the LCRA, The Shield-Ayres Foundation, the Texas Commission on the Arts, The Downtown Austin Alliance, The Lola Wright Foundation, H.E. Butt Grocery Company, Dell Computers, Time Warner Cable, Susanne Vaughan Foundation, Velocity Credit Union, The Hill Country Conservancy, Texas Gas Service and numerous private individuals. Karen Kocher wishes to thank each of these sponsors without whom the pro ject would still be a dream.
