Preservation of Minnesota’s Stories

On April 20, 2026, the Minnesota Media Arts (MNMA) and Saint Paul Neighborhood Network (SPNN) partnership launched its first AV Media Preservation Basics webinar.  Webcasting from SPNN’s podcast studio and moderated by Katey DeCelle, Frogtown radio host, the 90‑minute session drew more than 35 participants representing community media, libraries, archives, museums, and artists.  

The program marks the beginning of a statewide initiative to help organizations and individuals protect aging media collections before they deteriorate. 

Highlights from the April 20 Webinar 

The webinar, part one, introduced key concepts in audiovisual preservation and provided a high‑level overview of MNMA/SPNN’s five‑step framework for cost‑effective preservation:

1. Orientation: What media preservation means, why it matters, and why obsolete formats fail over time. 

2. Collection Care: Basics of safe storage, environmental considerations, identifying formats, and stabilizing photographic and slide collections.

3. Inventory & Documentation: How to conduct a visual inventory, track minimal metadata, and choose tools for cataloging and planning.

Participants learned that preservation is more than digitization: it requires careful planning, organization and management before conversion, and strategies for access and distribution afterwards.  

The webinar set the stage for part two, a Workshop which featured more in‑depth discussion, in-person training and encouraged participants to share results about their own at‑risk collections via an online 2026 AV Community Media Preservation Survey.  If you have a collection of AV Media to preserve, please participate in our online survey by requesting a survey invite via our website contact form