New content is added weekly to the Hammer Channel on topics ranging from politics and current events to literary readings to film screenings. (photo courtesy of Hammer Museum)

The Hammer Museum at UCLA launched a new website, Hammer Channel, offering more than 1,000 conversations with artists, writers, filmmakers, scholars, scientists and activists.

New content is added weekly as part of the Hammer’s decades-long commitment to presenting programs on topics ranging from politics and current events to literary readings to film screenings and artist talks. Hammer Channel offers innovative tools to search, clip and share not only the programs themselves but precise moments within. Hammer Channel was made possible by a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

“The Hammer’s legacy of programs is as much a cornerstone of our mission as our exhibitions,” Hammer Museum Director Ann Philbin said. “Hammer Channel puts that legacy right up front, giving audiences access to the full breadth and depth of our talks, performances and much more.”

Organized much like a streaming service, Hammer Channel offers a wide variety of video content organized by categories including art, social justice, film, books, politics, the environment and more. Hammer Channel allows users not only to search by topic or title, but within transcripts of the videos themselves. A search for a person or topic will include results in which that term is discussed during a program – and will bring users to the very moment within that video when the term was used. Full transcripts are included with every video, allowing for greater accessibility and searchability. Additionally, Hammer Channel’s clipping tool allows users to create and share clips of their favorite moments within a program.

As part of the project, the underlying source code and technical documentation is available on the open-source platform GitHub. By providing documentation of the Hammer Channel to open-source communities, other institutions worldwide may adopt, adapt and advance their own initiatives.

For information and to view, visit Hammer Channel at channel.hammer.ucla.edu.