He won several awards for his direction and the first bricks in his career path were laid. Bass received an M.F.A. in film and television from Columbia University in 1967 as their School of Arts scholar, after a two-year stint as an honors candidate in directing at the Yale University School of Drama. The director of more than 50 films and videos, Bass has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the American Film Institute, the Mid-Atlantic Media Arts Fellowship, the Connecticut Commission on the Arts, the Ohio Arts Council, and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, as well as more than 70 regional, national and international awards. My father was an independent carpenter and my Native American grandfather was a park policeman. Teaching allows me independence from the mainstream media.
Teaching is a different direction from that . . .
Bass' first full-time teaching post was at the University of Bridgeport, where he quickly became tenured and served as chair of both the theater department and the cinema department, which he originated. Bridgeport appealed to him because he was creating the department and the school, at that time, had idealistic goals. It gave a lot of people an opportunity to go to school regardless of race, class or financial background. The students that Temple attracts are among the best in the country. They are not only brilliant but are people who had to make their own way.