Established in 1973, the Theatre Vanguard was a non-profit arts  venue that exhibited dance and music alongside noncommercial cinema. As the recipient of NEA funding, the theatre carefully positioned itself as an arts institution, emphasizing the formal characteristics of its programs and contextualizing screenings in relation to important corresponding publications, particularly P. Adams Sitney’s Visionary Film.   As one of the decade's most important sites of experimental exhibition, the Theatre Vanguard reflects  how institutional identity  and curatorship reflect the convergence of federal funding with canonization, archival development and experimental films move into the academy. 

Alison Kozberg is a Phd candidate in Critical Studies in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California and has previously worked with the Harvard Film Archive, Boston Underground Film Festival and Brattle Film Foundation. Her research focuses on the history of experimental film in the United States and its production, distribution and exhibition practices.