GAEL: How extensive is the collection of work
at WIF and who is your audience?

SUE: In 1977 WIF incorporated as a non-profit society and we began distributing work that was made in-house, mostly to women's groups. Since then we have not only been a production and distribution unit of women's film and tapes but we have taken on work from women working in the media all over the world. We have a collection of 200 tapes and films, and our distribution committee is constantly receiving submissions for acquisition. Our audience is primarily educational institutions, social service agencies, government departments, and women's groups.

We take on experimental film, video art, documentary, feature and narrative work of good technical quality. Before, there wasn't a lot of attention paid to quality or marketability, but women who are submitting now have the capability. There is no handicap anymore in technical competence.'

In order for us to continue collecting experimental film and video art we have to have productions that are commercially viable and marketable to support us.

GAEL: Has the gallery component of WIF also expanded?

SUE: Before 1986 there were sporadic exhibitions that went undocumented. But our gallery committee decided to make the gallery a full-fledged exhibition venue with curetted, catalogued, professional exhibitions. Documentation of these is placing women artists within art history in Canada. The gallery has become a very high-profile focal point of our activities. In the last year and a half we have had one woman shows, international exhibits, and retrospective on a whole variety of women's work.

GAEL: What needs to be done to ensure that the survival of WIF?

SHARON: It is essential that there are organizations, to foster, develop and support the talent of women in the arts. Mainstream cultural organizations do not, financially or any other way. There is still a stigma against feminist resource centers in terms of funding and access to funds. It is a question of political priorities. There is a real need for women to acquire financial knowledge and to take a financial part, because no matter what kind of organization you have if you don't have knowledge of how to access funds you will fail.

SUE: In a presentation to the Secretary of State Committee last year, WIF was one of two women's cultural organizations (out of 200 women's groups) who demanded that women's cultural productions be considered a justifiable social development issue for federal government funding. Cultural issues have always been put on the back burner. I think that largely due to WIF's influence there is beginning to be a recognition that cultural issues for women are not peripheral -- they're integral. In order to survive we must continue to be active as a lobbying group on the national level. We need more staff positions and ongoing funding.

MARION: We need women with consummate skills in all areas, including business and management skills.

GAEL: Has WIF successfully fulfilled your original vision?

MARION: It has gone much farther than my original vision. We need a place where women can express their creativity, think things through, develop and produce their work. We need something to assist women and men in finding and expressing a feminist aesthetic. We need at least a decade and a volume of work to regard, to go back and reflect upon, to find out what goes on in women's heads when they are free, or at least conscious, of the dominant ideology. Then we can go on to the next step. Then we will know what it is to have a feminist aesthetic.

Marion Barling is a curator and arts administrator with a body to work in both film and video. She has a Masters degree in Sociology and Film.

Sharon Costello works in mainstream media and has worked with women musicians for the past 12 years. She is part of Key Change, an all women band.

Sue Donaldson is currently the administrator at WIF. Her background is in print journalism and arts administration.

Gael MCool is a part-time therapist, and part-time prospector who is always searching for clues. She has been an active member of BC CCLOW for 2 years