The Kitchen Center for Video and Music was founded in 1971 by Woody and Steina Vasulka. Originally located in the kitchen of the old Broadway Central Hotel (hence the name) which housed the Mercer Arts Center, The Kitchen moved in 1973 to its present Broome Street loft just before the hotel collapsed.

While first it was funded through the auspices of Howard Wise and Electronic Arts Intermix, its budget demands soon became greater than the total of all Mr. Wise's other projects. It was at that point The Kitchen became an independent, non-profit organization operating as Haleakala, Inc. under its present Director, Robert Stearns.

Originally focusing on electronic music and video, The Kitchen has since moved away from funding experiments in those fields and now concentrates on presentation. It provides space, publicity, equipment and technical assistance for video exhibitions, concerts and multimedia performances, and has presented tapes and performances by such artists as Juan Downey, William Wegman, Frank Gillette, Beryl Korot", Shigeko Kubota, Ira Schneider and Steve Paxton. Musicians who have performed here include Steve Reich, Philip Glass and La Monte Young. Performance space is in such demand that artists may present their work only on an everyother-year basis.

In addition to presenting tape showings, concerts and performances, The Kitchen has a video room where anyone may view 1/2-inch reel-to-reel and 3/4-inch cassette videotapes, color, black and white, and European PAL color. You may bring your own material or select works from The Kitchen tape library. Future plans include increasing its tape collection and making it available for showing through other individuals and organizations. Also, The Kitchen is in the process of developing a touring program whereby it would pay transportation costs to museums, galleries, art centers, and schools for performance artists and video installations.This organization publishes a monthly calendar of events and an annual catalog which lists all events, concerts and exhibitions of the season.

The Kitchen is presently staffed by Robert Stearns, Director; Carlota Schoolman, Video Director; Michael Shamberg, Assistant Video Director; Garrett List, Music Director; Rhys Chatham, Associate Music Director; and Daile Kaplan, who will be organizing the touring program. The Kitchen is funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the Martha Baird Rockefeller Fund for Music, Inc.