Rick Hauser (rAH)

Staff profile
Processed on November 11, 2019

Producer, Director, Writer in Television and Media
Area of Special Competence: Archaeology (Material Culture of the Third Millennium)

     For the better part of three decades, Rick Hauser has turned his skills in visual media production to archeological research and fieldwork. He became a senior staff member of an international expedition to a 3rd millennium site in Northern Syria and is author of a new typology for classifying previously unidentifiable artifacts.
     Rick Hauser's media career has been characterized by innovation and the creation of original formats to present arts, culture and social issues in ways that build audiences. His early work was a staple of public television programming and the mainstay of many of the network's new stations. In Hollywood, for the commercial studios, he directed network drama and was the WGA's first signatory in the new medium of "home video," creating best-selling programs that ranged from controversial social issues to Lamb Chop's pace-setting romps.
     He has continued to develop startling and original formats in the arts, most recently using interactive technology to connect communities across America and the globe. Mentorship and coaching across disciplines have remained central to his work.
     Rick Hauser's research and work has been supported by grants from government (NEA, NEH, Department of Commerce, CPB, British Arts Council, Radio Televisione Svizzera), foundations (Rockefeller, Ford, Jerome, Getty Program for Art on Film, Beaumont Foundation, DANA Foundation, Massachusetts Council on the Arts & Humanities, state arts and humanities agencies), service organizations (FORECAST, VSA Arts) and corporate sponsors (Travelers' Insurance Co., The St. Paul, TARGET, US West).

Tasks at Mozan

Unit Supervision: A1/5 (shared), A8, A10.

Figurine Analysis, all units

Other Activities

     Major Activities are listed on the following pages in chronological order, recent activities first.
     Programs & Projects, indented and listed chronologically, most recent first, were executed under Rick Hauser's supervision and resulted in products for which he has prime responsibility.
     While benefiting from invaluable contributions of collaborators, grants supporting his work were initiated and authored by Rick Hauser.

Archaeology

present-1989	Senior Staff, Field Excavator/Researcher - International Archaeological Project and Expedition to Urkesh (Tell Mozan) Research Associate - International Institute for Mesopotamian Area Studies [IIMAS]
1999-1981	Research Collaborator - Institute of Archaeology, UCLA. In 1989, Hauser shared a grant with Giorgio Buccellati from the Program for Art on Film, a joint project of the Getty Trust and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, to plan an innovative collection of short films on stratigraphy.

Archaeology & Media: Publications, Lectures, & Workshops

     This listing does not include my earlier published papers on media and education (in 'TV Quarterly' and 'Education Digest') nor are any broadcast programs included here, although the vast majority contribute to the furtherance of scholarship in a variety of disciplines (as, "The Scarlet Letter" mini-series for the Public Broadcasting Service). Printed materials that I either edited or wrote or for which I supervised the publication accompanied many of these cultural specials.

2014-2008	The Domestication of Equidae in Third-Millennium B.C.E. Mesopotamia (Juris Zarins with the assistance of Rick Hauser, CUSAS 24, CDL Press, 2014).
	"5 Ivory Things: a window onto the life of ivory in the Global Middle Ages" (MappaMundi Interactive Digital Entity) Invited paper, forthcoming. Geraldine Heng, editor.
	URKESH Excavation Reports: The Figurines from the J Units (in and around the monumental staircase and the Plaza) (in progress)
	URKESH Excavation Reports: The Service Sector in Building AK, Unit A10 Field Report on the architecture and workshops of the King of Urkesh. Undena Publications (in progress)
	"The Lives of Objects" Inaugural Conference, Wolfson College, University of Oxford. Oxford Centre for Life-Writing.Oxford University, England. Panel chair, "Metaphor". 20-22 September, 2013.
	"Sapir and Quantifiable 'Crudeness'". CSIG News. Jaimee Uhlenbrock, editor. (winter, 2011)
	READING FIGURINES: A New Methodology. (2011) Invited lecture (archaeology faculty, graduate students in art history). University of Haifa. Haifa, Israel.
	LIFE EXTENSION: Secondary Burial and the Making and Unmaking of Self in EB IA. Proceedings, Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 56. Barcelona, Spain. International Association of Assyriologists / Eisenbrauns. (2013, 2010)
	READING FIGURINES: Animal Representations in Terra Cotta from Urkesh, the First Hurrian Capital (2450 BCE). ASOR Annual Meeting 2010 ("Figuring Out" the Figurines of the Ancient Near East). Atlanta, GA. (2010)
	RESEARCH ETHICS: Studying Artifacts of Uncertain Origin. ASOR Annual Meeting 2010 (Round Table, organizer). Atlanta, GA, Coroplastic Studies Interest Group. (2010)
	READING FIGURINES from Ancient Urkesh (2450 BCE). A New Way of Measuring Archaeological Artifacts with Implications for Historical Linguistics. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 57. Rome, Italy. International Association of Assyriologists / Eisenbrauns. (2011 & forthcoming)
	SECONDARY CONTEXT FOR OBJECTS WITH NO KNOWN ORIGIN Three Workshops about the Ethics of Scholarly Research. American Schools of Oriental Research Annual Meeting. (chair; co-chair). San Francisco, CA (2011). Chicago, IL (2012). Baltimore, MD (2013).
	"'CRUDE': Reclaiming Artifacts Lost to the Field". American Schools of Oriental Research 2011 Annual Meeting (Theoretical / Anthropological Approaches to Near Eastern / Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology). San Francisco, CA. (2011)
	Encountering Gudea: The Performativity of His Inscriptions. Midwest SBL/AOS/ASOR Annual Meeting 2009. Olivet-Nazarene University, Bourbonnais Illinois. (2009)
	Gudea and His Audience: Replicable Ruler, Embodied Artifact. American Schools of Oriental Research 2009 Annual Meeting (Theoretical / Anthropological Approaches to Near Eastern / Eastern Mediterranean Art and Archaeology). New Orleans, LA. (2009)
	Gudea's Inscribed Statues: Performativity, Liminal Surface, Enculturation. "Writing As Material Practice". K. E. Piquette and R. D. Whitehouse, co-chairs. London, University College London. (2009)
	READING FIGURINES Animal Representations in Terra Cotta from Royal Building AK.Biblioteca Mesopotamica, Volume 28 - Urkesh / Mozan Studies 5, 2008. Reviewed, AKKADICA fall 2009: "[An] outstanding volume . . . an important and welcome contribution. . . will certainly prove to be an indispensable resource for scholars." (Ingrid M. Swinnen)
	Key to the Past: Performing the Built Environment in Very Ancient Times. Third Annual MNSAH Symposium on the Built Environment (2008). Invited lecture. School of Architecture, Rapson Hall, University of Minnesota, The Minnesota Chapter of the Society of Architectural Historians (R. Ferguson, Editor).
Prior to 2008	Hauser, R. (2006). Artefacts and Archaeology at Ancient Urkesh (Tell Mozan). University of Minnesota Archaeology Consortium. Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota.
	"1. Regularities and Realism 2. Types.", URKESH public website(2003).
	"Animal Figurines.", URKESH BETA website (2002). BETA version accessible by password only.
	"Measuring Figurines.", URKESH BETA website (2002).
	Uncovering Ancient Urkesh. AIA Inaugural Lecture. Minnesota Museum of Science, Saint Paul, MN, American Institute of Archaeology. (2000)
	The Equids of Urkesh: What the Figurines Say. Urkesh and the Hurrians. Studies in Honor of Lloyd Cotsen. Buccellati, Giorgio and M. Kelly-Buccellati, editors. Malibu, Undena Publications. 26: 63 - 74, Plates VII - XII. (1998).
	The Figurines of Urkesh (in "The First Hurrian Capital", Buccellati and Kelly-Buccellati). Biblical Archæologist 60: 87. (1997).

Beyond Broadcast™ Projects & Productions

     Projects produced at Hauser's production company, BB™, all use media in a non-traditional way. Most have an Internet component. All share in-teractivity, where the language of traditional filmmaking is challenged to break down preconceptions in order to enhance the immediacy of the viewing experience. Collectively, BB™ projects have garnered public television's major awards many times over. Innovation is a by-word at BB™ - the company created Hollywood's first interactive videodisc, The Entertainment Game.
     Funding for projects produced or supervised by Rick Hauser is significant; for example, NEH Production Grant The Scarlet Letter $4.35 million, NEA Challenge Grant Twin Cities Public Television (co-authored with Alive from Off Center staff) $3.2 million, DancePartners©/THE PERFORMANCE LAB™ TOP matching grant $500,000.

present-1995	Founding Partner, Beyond Broadcast™ Saint Paul, Minnesota (URL: http://www.beyondbroadcast.org.
present-1996	THE PERFORMANCE LAB™ (URL: http://www.theperformancelab.org. 501(c)(3) organization, advocates of an innovative model for coaching performing arts via interactive technology [co-founder]. Funders: TOP - $500,000 matching grant (1999) TARGET grant - $26,000 (2001, 2003) NEA Arts/Learning - $50,000 matching grant (2004-2005) Beaumont Foundation - $80,000 equipment grant (2004-2006) DANA Foundation - $60,000 (2006-2007)
2005-2004	BUILDING THE NETWORK / New Interactive Strategies for Residencies & Coaching in the Performing Arts (National Endowment for the Arts). Three artist residencies using interactive technology, including the Internet, as a tool in arts education & teaching performance skills: o IMMIGRATION Artsgenesis high school students 2000 miles apart (New Jersey & Minnesota) interpret the stories of 4 shattered families - refugees from China, Ireland, Russia & the Great Mississippi Flood seek new homes in America, creating wrenching drama in original scenes played out interactively over space & time o Remy Charlip's Garden Lilacs intergenerational dances created from the noted illustrator's sketches o The Juilliard Residency from studios at The Juilliard School (NY), Risa Steinberg simultaneously coaches dancers at 4 arts academies in 3 states, teaching a duet adapted from José Limón's great Choreographic Offering.
2003-2002	Monaco Dance Forum. International conference on dance & technology, invited production company/presenter.
	The Karen Brown Experience Pilot radio series, 24 personal essays based on the popular travel guides [WCAL-FM] , producer/director, writer.
	Eyewitness to Discovery (DEVELOPMENT CONTINUES) Series of dramatic vignettes for radio based on the Brian Fagan best-seller about great archeological finds [Oxford University Press, with Walter C. Dallenbach].
2001	Just About a Billion Dollars' Worth of Buildings! Documentary about university construction on an unprecedented scale.
	SuperComputing Conference - Dancing Beyond Boundaries 2-continent, 4-site dance Internet2 performance, consultants on project design, staffing Minnesota studios.
1999-1998	The River I See 4 interrelated film commentaries about one Henry P. Bosse photograph; Minnesota Humanities Commission production grant
	Unwrapping Urkesh: The Discovery of a Buried City Documentary for Televisione Svizzera. AGON Film Festival/Athens [2001] Rovereto, Italy Archæological Film Festival [2000]
	Public art installation For Capital Cities Partnership, Lawson.Commons Block downtown St. Paul FORECAST grant as "emerging artist" in public art (with Robert Lunning, architect)
1997	The Nourishable Accident Documentary on Randy J. Johnston, master potter, for New Wave Arts/Japan.

Beyond Broadcast™ Proposals (representative sample)

Everyday Ethics, with Randy Cohen (IN DEVELOPMENT)
     Radio-TV series based on Cohen's NY Times column.
7 MEDITATIONS 2005 (EDITING FROM ARCHIVAL DUBS)
     Interactive 5-screen recreation of a classic theatrical ceremony by The Living Theatre.
Tagore's Children/The Bangladesh Residencies (FUNDING PENDING)
     An international exchange project using interactive technologies (video-conferencing, videophones, web conferencing) to preserve cultural identity while building new audiences (with Jago Art Center/Dhaka).
TPL World Bridge (IN EARLY DEVELOPMENT)
     Interactive exchanges in the performing arts as a tool to combat stereotypes and prejudice (Syria, Egypt, Haîti, USA).
Syrian Renaissance (IN MIDDLE STAGE OF DEVELOPMENT)
     5 promotional films on city, country, nightlife, archaeology and the marketplace for the Syrian Tourist Ministry.
3 Reality Shows for Dubai (PENDING)
     o PICK-UP - on a quest for the best amateur soccer player, fresh from street scrimmages in the Middle East (the prize: a chance to play with Manchester United!)
     o Race to The Race - Count-down to the fabled Dubai World Cup for 6 young jockeys & their horses, training overseen by Saeed bin Suroor himself
     o Obstacle! - Limited water & supplies, limited time - great horses of dif-fering breeds on an obstacle course through tough, uncharted terrain across Arabian deserts, swamps & mountain ranges.

Public Television in Minnesota

1995-1991: Twin Cities Public Television [KTCA]

     Senior Executive Producer, Arts & Cultural Programs: Hauser supervised creative production staff and all other aspects of production, including program concept and execution, budget, graphic design and post-production, including editing, marketing and distribution. His tenure at the station was framed as a mentorship in production.
     While at KTCA, Hauser's efforts created national models for arts activism and community involvement. Programs produced under his aegis received a score of national and regional awards. ARTS on 2, a flashy and controversial magazine show he created, was the most-awarded program ever produced at KTCA and brought Hauser his 3rd CPB Award. The program was screened at INPUT, the invitational international festival of innovative and experimental film.
     As producer for Act Against Violence, Hauser created emotionally-charged spots and features about violence and its roots in each of us. Hauser used an NEA Challenge Grant he co-wrote to produce films about the region's craftsmakers and to help kids make alternative video journals to resolve urban conflict and rural isolation, to defuse racial distrust and to document the growth of self-esteem. With the American Composers Forum, he created a free cleared music library of compositions by local composers.
     The Jerome Foundation funded national conferences on crafts and murder. The St. Paul Companies underwrote a multi-part MINNESOTA CENTURIES history series Hauser was an advocate of ancillary product development at KTCA and popular programming at reasonable cost. DONNA'S DAY, a series he developed about good times for parents and kids together, was syndicated nationally. Local programs devised by Hauser and the staff are the most-watched programs ever produced by KTCA. They include "Tape's Rolling!" ["...a community treasure", said the Star TRIBUNE] and specials on subjects as varied as Noh drama and rock-&-roll.

National Media, Film & Television

1991-1979	Independent Producer, Director, Writer - Hollywood, California.
	Paramount Pictures Corporation Executive Producer, Director, Writer, original video programs. [1982-1991] Created RCA's first interactive videodisc, The Entertainment Game. Of Hauser's best-selling videocassette, Strong Kids, Safe Kids, FILM COMMENT said: "To many in the field, this is the special interest vid-eo they wish they had made." While at Paramount, he also produced a series of short films on notable film directors and a documentary with Star Trek creator, Gene Rodenberry. Hauser's work for Paramount occasioned the first contract ever signed in the home video industry under the jurisdiction of the Writers' Guild of America. Director, network night-time drama, Call To Glory [1987].
	Columbia Pictures Television Director, network nighttime drama, From Here to Eternity [1979]. Supervised creative production crew and advised on post-production.
	VESTRON Producer/Director, Writer [with Roberta Haynes], The Secret World of Erotic Art [1985].
	Sunshine Media Group/Amazon Producer/Director, Writer [with Roberta Haynes], Erotic Dreams [2014].
1991-1965	Screenwriter Screenplays with Walter C. Dallenbach and others. Options, 20th-Century Fox, Jozak, MARVEL, TOMORROW Entertainment, others. Parting Shots and Circumstance and Captain Sutter for VISIONS, The Most Beautiful Thing in the World for WNET/Channel 13, CHOPIN/three movements for Gold Mountain Group.
1979-1965	WGBH Educational Foundation [WGBH/Boston] Producer, Director, Writer While at WGBH/Boston, Hauser was credited with many of that station's most acclaimed cultural and informational specials, winning public television's highest honors - two CPB Awards [for GODSPELL Goes to Plimoth Plantation for Thanksgiving with Henry Steele Commanger and for the unpredictable art series, Eye-to-Eye]; an N.E.T. Award [for CITY/ Motion/Space/Game], a Gabriel Award and an Emmy nomination [for Nine Heroes]. Hauser's experimental and other broadcast work was the subject of many national articles. NEWSWEEK counted him among the "video pioneers." Hauser's four-part adaptation of Hawthorne's classic, The Scarlet Letter, was hailed by television critics across the nation as "an American masterpiece" and "an authentic electronic masterwork" and also provoked the shortest, most pungent review ever given by PEOPLE Magazine. The mini-series remains among PBS' "all-time most watched" dramas and received an Emmy for videotape editing. Hauser's direction of another romantic drama, Trinity Rep's Feasting with Panthers still stands as a daring and innovative example of television theatrical adaptation at its best. WNET-New York re-broadcast the drama in a 25-year retrospective of the station's finest programs. Hauser was also a pioneer in the emerging area of "how-to" programs, producing such public television classics as MAKING THINGS GROW (Thalassa Cruso), MAGGIE & the beautiful machine! (Maggie Lettvin), ERICA! (Erica Wilson) (format & design only), Walsh's Animals (John Walsh) and many others. This type of program was often the central component of audience-building campaigns for public television stations around the country.

Community Activities

2008	Program Designer Summit Hill (St. Paul) House Tour 2008.
2000-1999	Reader Services for the Blind, The Communication Center.
1999-1992	Commissioner Heritage Preservation Commission, City of Saint Paul, MN (1997-8, Secretary).
1999-1994	Chair, Task Force Department of Public Works, City of Saint Paul. Neighborhoods Task Force on Infrastructure.
1994-1993	Consultant Department of Planning and Economic Development, City of Saint Paul.
1997, 1994	Member, Task Forces Downtown Urban Design, The Historic Saint Paul Foundation. Responsible for several public education projects including Historic Preservation Commission informational brochures and public presentation.
1991-1979	Member & Officer (inc. President) Ridgewood-Wilton Neighborhood Association, Los Angeles. Spearheaded many projects, including zoning changes to control development, traffic control, tree-planting and most significantly, the creation of an Historic Preservation Overlay Zone for this neighborhood of Craftsman houses. Cited by Los Angeles Public Works for service to the City.

Education

     Educated in the United States [Yale College, with thesis honors] and France [the Sorbonne], Hauser received the United States/United Kingdom Bicentennial Artists' Exchange Fellowship awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts and the British Arts Council.
     He holds an MFA in radio/television and film from Ohio University.
     French: fluent. Spanish: conversant. Arabic: reading, writing, conversation. German: reading.

Teaching, Curriculum Design & Coaching

     Hauser designed the format for all language courses of the Council on Student Travel & wrote the French language booklet.
     Hauser was dialect/language coach at the Syndicat Français des Acteurs. He has taught drama, French language and literature at Staten Island Academy (1963) and French language at the Blake School (2005). He taught the core curriculum for middle and high school students incarcer-ated by the L.A. County Correctional System. He designed a curriculum to teach production techniques & visual literacy for language students in Minnesota High Schools as part of a project on Mississippi River cities.
     THE PERFORMANCE LAB™ interactive residencies are structured around mentored coaching activities in arts education for teachers (professional development) & students. Prime design collaborators have been the Perpich Center for Arts Education and the New Jersey State Department of Education (Office of Standards & Professional Development). Hauser has coached scene work interactively over several years for THE PERFORMANCE LAB™ and the Southern New Jersey Academy of Performing Arts. He has lectured on media and interactivity at national/international conferences.

Memberships

     Founding Member, Paris Theatre Workshop.
     Founding Member, Ensemble Studio Theatre/West.
     Media Consultant, KCET/Los Angeles.
     Member, DGA, WGA, PGA, AFTRA/SAG.
     Many juries and peer panels on arts education and media.

Beyond Broadcast™

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001.651.224.1486
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