SAIC Guts Video Data Bank
52Nov. 18, 2025
TheSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC)on November 12 terminated three out of five employees at itsVideo Data Bank(VDB), according to Chicago dailyNewcity, permanently eliminating their positions. The SAIC additionally announced major cutbacks to the internationalvideoart distribution organization.
Established in 1976 at the dawn of the media arts movement, the VDB holds moving-image works by and about contemporary artists in the United States. With an archive of over six hundred artists and six thousand video art titles dating from the 1960s to the present day, it is one of the only repositories of its kind in the country. In 2015, the organization launched VDB TV, a digital distribution providing free online streaming to curated video and media art programs. Last year, VDB inaugurated the Video Data Bank Education Streaming Platform, which made its entire trove of video art, experimental film, documentaries, and artist interviews available to higher-education institutions via a subscription streaming service.
Among those fired were Tom Colley, VDB’s director. In a letter to VDB artists reprinted in part by Newcity and posted to Instagram, Colley noted that the organization’s digital collection and media manager had been let go, as had its distribution assistant. “Other structural and mission changes are happening as well,” he wrote. “I have heard that there will be no new acquisitions or programming. The administration came to these decisions without the knowledge or input of VDB staff or others who understand VDB operations, mission, or values.” Colley’s letter was cosigned by VDB cofounder Kate Horsfield and longtime former director Abina Manning.
In a letter addressed to the school community, SAIC president Jiseon Lee Isbara wrote: “We have taken many steps to stabilize the school’s finances, and while those actions have helped, we are now at a point where structural changes are necessary to ensure the long-term health of SAIC.” Noting that the school was reckoning with a financial shortfall owing to a decline in enrollment, especially among international students, Isbara contended that “every effort was made to limit the number of positions eliminated” and that the school is committed to implementing a “sustainable staffing plan that allows SAIC to preserve the student experience while continuing to advance the School’s mission of providing a world-class art and design education.”