The IMAGE (Independent Media Artists of Georgia, Etc.) mission is to build and support a strong independent media arts community in Atlanta and the Southeast by promoting the production, exhibition and public awareness of film and video as artistic forms of individual expression.

IMAGE began in 1976 as an outgrowth of the need for equipment access, networking, information dissemination and support among media artists and producers in Georgia. The executive committee, formed through public meetings held with the media community, formalized an organizational structure under the auspices of the Arts Festival of Atlanta, establishing a non-profit media arts center. With initial funding from the NEA and the Georgia Council for the Arts, IMAGE incorporated, purchased film and video equipment, and presented programs on independent film and video, featuring guest artists and critics.

Part of a national network of media arts centers, IMAGE remains the only established multi-purpose media arts center in the region. The Center, then located in the Forrest Avenue School, began to publish a newsletter, still one of the few media arts publications in the region. Each year since 1977, the Atlanta Film & Video Festival, organized by IMAGE and held at the High Museum of Art, IMAGE and other venues, has dispensed thousands of dollars worth of awards to artists and has grown into one of the most important "artists' festivals" in the country. In 1986, IMAGE moved to and renovated a facility in the TULA Arts Complex on Bennett Street. In 2004 the organization moved to The Contemporary at 535 Means Street.

IMAGE endeavors to support independent media artists while simultaneously developing an audience for these artists.