Skip Blumberg

Skip Blumberg is a filmmaker, video artist, photographer and media pioneer who has created several hundred independent and commissioned works over a 55+-year career, and still making videos!

Blumberg’s TV shows have been broadcast and cablecast on networks including PBS, Showtime, National Geographic TV, Disney Channel, and aired internationally, with footage acquired for numerous movies and TV shows, including featured in Martin Scorsese’s documentaries on Bob Dylan and Fran Liebowitz.

His  Pick Up Your Feet: The Double Dutch Show is considered a classic early video documentary and has been in festivals around the world and in retrospective screenings, including MoMA’s "Black Heroines" series.

He produced and directed 150 shorts for Sesame Street, and for PBS’s Great Performances, Alive TV, the Sci-Fi Channel, and others. Through his company, In Motion Productions, Blumberg has produced many award-winning educational and fundraising films.

Skip’s productions have received over 3 million views online and are featured on sites SkipBlumberg.com, SkipsClassicVideos.vhx.tv, SkipsNewMovies.vhx.tv, and MoreArtistsMovies.com, with dozens pirated on YouTube.

With work in permanent collections of major museums, such as the Museum of Modern Art (NYC), Centre Pompidou (Paris), and others, Blumberg’s multi-media installations have been at venues worldwide, including MoMA, the Berlin Film Festival, and the Kennedy Center (Washington, DC).

Blumberg has received numerous awards, including three NYC Emmys, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Ohio State Journalism Award, and recognition in the 1984 Esquire Magazine “Register of Outstanding Young Americans” and the Museum of Broadcasting’s screening series “Critic’s Favorite TV Shows of All Time.”

He has led hundreds of workshops and classes globally, including as a U.S. State Department Cultural Envoy, Artistic Director and workshop trainer for MY HERO's  “Global Exchange,” and as a professor at Hofstra University. He is a founding member of the Videofreex pioneer video production group and of_. the current Videofreex Partnership and Videofreex.com.

Blumberg appears in documentary films like Here Come the Videofreex, TVTV: Video Revolutionaries and Other People’s Footage.

Blumberg is the founder and director of Friends of City Hall Park in NYC.

Blumberg’s movies present to its audiences previously hidden extraordinary events, phenomena, and people whom he discovers in world culture, avant-garde performance, and work situations, to celebrate the individuality of each of us and that by trying hard to accomplish what you believe in you can succeed.

Skip BlumbergMY HERO

Blumberg also curates and manages the work of other artists, including the Jane Aaron Collection. He lives and works in Manhattan, where he is also involved in local civic initiatives. His odyssey to reopen the northern section of City Hall Park in New York began in the 1990s with a neighborhood coalition he helped to form called The Friends of City Hall Park. Their mission was to assure public access to the park (the park is nine acres but only one was publicly accessible), run volunteer events, and advocate for more funds. The organization pushed for the 1999 renovation and the reopening of the northern section of the park in 2006. The group keeps a running list of maintenance issues and compiles them in a regular “state of the park” report and hosts gardening events throughout the year.

Most recently, Skip organized 10 Friends of City Hall Park "Tree Days" featuring seven corporate volunteer gardening teams that planted six trees and dozens of bushes, hosted five arboreal walking tours, a tree-themed art gallery exhibition, sidewalk chalk art forest, and an Arbor Day civic ceremony with elected and parks officials.

Skip Blumberg and MY HERO

In 1994 working with Emmy award-winning filmmakers Tom Weinberg, Rita Stern and Joel Cohen, Skip Blumberg collaborated with Jeanne Myers to produce a TV Pilot for a MY HERO TV Series with author Michael Crichton, teacher Laurel Greenber and The Mayor and Fireman of NYC and Laguna Beach Life Guards. The producers were told the pilot was "great" by TV executives but that it was not commercially viable. You can see the Pilot here: myhero.com/film_MY_HERO_PILOT.

MY HEROWendy Apple & Skip Blumberg

Later, Blumberg again collaborated with MY HERO as part of a U.S. State Department Global Arts Exchange grant. As the Artistic Director of the grant, he conducted digital arts workshops for educators, artists and students on behalf of MY HERO in Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Senegal, Herzegovina, and Montenegro. There he and Tony Mendoza taught locals how to create hero videos and organized shows, combining mentorship, teaching, and filmmaking.

Said Jeanne Meyers Co-founder and Director, The MY HERO Project:

Skip Blumberg is a true pioneer. He has been the master of video portraits for over three decades. His love of movement, light, art, nature and sound make his work stand the test of time. His expert camera and editing techniques capture slices of life; his talent for communication, humor and compassion make him a true master digital storyteller. I am so pleased that Skip Blumberg has shared his vision, work and lesson plans with MY HERO.

In 2007, MY HERO presented Skip with a Special Hero Award at the MY HERO International Film Festival and he continued to submit films annually and was even commissioned to create 8 plus films about heroes for the MY HERO Library. See them all here: myhero.com/org_Skip-Blumbergs-Heroes

MY HEROSkip Blumberg

In an interview at the 2024 MY HERO Film Festival, Blumberg emphasized the value of mentoring in media and storytelling, explaining, "I'm a big believer in learning by doing and making mistakes and pushing the mistakes to create your own style." He highlighted the role of mentors in teaching not only technical skills but also "values and teaching strategies to be successful as a professional career." On the importance of hero-centric storytelling, Skip said, "Look, the world right now is in rough shape. Wars should be obsolete. It's ridiculous. There shouldn't be wars. Climate change... We need more, better leaders. And so Hero Videos is a route to do that." He believes starting hero storytelling in primary school can significantly impact children as they develop their skills and understanding.

He also underscored the need to engage teachers, remarking, "One thing that MY HERO does that's great is they engage teachers. Training the teachers has more of an impact than individual students." Reflecting on his role as a mentor, Skip shared his broader perspective: "Even though we have smartphones, I think that our species is not that smart. We're still learning how to do what's right." He stressed the importance of kindness and the moral obligation to help others: "In the richest country in the world, we should be able to help everybody... There’s no reason for people to be suffering so much." Concluding with a call for systemic change, he advocated for wealth redistribution: "Nobody needs $500 million... there should be a tax on wealth. We should take it from them and give it to MY HERO!"

Over the years, Skip Blumberg has earned plenty of recognition for his work, including an Emmy Award. But perhaps his greatest achievement is the way he’s inspired other filmmakers and artists to embrace authenticity and innovation and we at MY HERO are very grateful for this and for his continued support our mission. 

Today, we can see Blumberg’s influence everywhere—from DIY filmmaking to the handheld, documentary-style videos that fill our social media feeds. He’s always believed in the power of real, unscripted moments, and that belief continues to resonate. Blumberg’s work reminds us that everyone has a story worth sharing. By capturing life in its truest form, he’s helped us see the world’s beauty, complexity, and connection.