Alan Lomax spent over six decades working as a musicologist, author, record producer, filmmaker, concert promoter, singer, photographer, and network radio host to promote knowledge and appreciation of the world's folk music.
As an anthropologist of the performing arts he produced a multimedia database called The Global Jukebox, which surveys the relationship between dance, song, and human history. He was a lifelong advocate for "cultural equity," proposing to reverse the centralization of communications and secure a valid forum for the expressive arts of all indigenous cultures.
Alan Lomax appeared on Screening Room in August 1975 to discuss the theory of Choreometrics and show the film Dance and Human History.
Screening Room was a Boston television series that ran for almost ten years from 1972-1981. It offered independent filmmakers a chance to show and discuss their work on a commercial (ABC-TV) affiliate station. The series was developed and hosted by filmmaker Robert Gardner (Dead Birds, Forest of Bliss).
Many of the filmmakers presented on the show - Jan Lenica, John and Faith Hubley, Emile DeAntonio, Jean Rouch, Ricky Leacock, Jonas Mekas, Bruce Baillie, Yvonne Rainer and Michael Snow - are now considered some of the most influential contributors to their respective fields of modern experimental film, documentary, and animation.
Nearly 100 programs were produced during the years Screening Room was broadcast. Twenty seven episodes have been edited for release in 3 categories:
Animation,
Documentary, and
Experimental Film.