The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center Foundation (UCIMC) is a grassroots organization that supports the creation and distribution of media and art that emphasizes underrepresented voices and perspectives, and promotes empowerment and expression through media and arts education.
Media + Art + Tech for Social Change!
The UCIMC was founded in 2000 by a collective of artists and activists who wanted to democratize access to arts and media production in the wake of media consolidation and the defunding of the arts. Racial and economic divides were widening, and our creative community was stifled by the limited ability of media outlets to present local artists.
The UCIMC founders aimed to invent the space, resources, and atmosphere to draw artists and community members together to investigate local problems and design solutions. We envisioned a center where collaboration, cross pollination, and serendipitous interaction were encouraged; where youth could participate in a creative "third space" as an alternative to home or school; where consumers could be producers; and where the power of media, art, and narrative to transform our community could be realized.
The UC-IMC's 20th Anniversary Events will be held between September 2020 and September 2021. All the events will be virtual due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
To learn the details about ALL of our 20th Anniversary events, including how to attend the upcoming events virtually and how to access the archived recordings of the past events, please go to our 20th Anniversary webpage.
Looking for UCIMC's new virtual event series, Sounds Like Community?
- Join us, local artists and sharers the first and third WEDNESDAYs of each month from 7pm (CST).
- Is there an artist, creation, organization, talk, or other content you'd like to see featured in our Sounds Like Community series? Email us with your recommendations at programming at ucimc dot org
- The UCIMC Programming Committee created Sounds Like Community to help artists and activists re-establish the time-based and community-based experiences that are so deeply diminished in our lives.
About the IMC's buiding spaces and activities:
We rent out our event spaces, but we are so much more than a really great venue. We are also the home of UC Books to Prisoners, Makerspace Urbana, the Bike Project of UC, the Public i newspaper, WRFU radio station 104.5FM, The Radical Librarians and Anarchist Archivists Collective, a world-renowned zine collection, and so much more. We are THE Place to plant your ideas.
Stay informed! Sign up for our periodic newsletter - you do not want to miss out on events, shows, meetings, workshops, and much more! Especially our 20th anniversary events!