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The SCAN Symposium has its origins at a computer music concert sponsored by the Philadelphia Area Computer Society (PACS) held in 1978 as part of the Personal Computing '78 Show in Philadelphia. The success of that concert prompted its organizers to continue the effort at subsequent shows. Presentations about computer music and then graphics were added over the next two years to round out the concert. In 1980, it was decided to hold an entire meeting based on computers in the arts, and the Symposium on Small Computers in the Arts was born. In subsequent years, the Symposium has grown in content and attendance, but has always maintained its informal and intimate atmosphere. The evening computer music concerts are still a part of each year's events.

To more effectively run the Symposium and other activities, the Small Computers in the Arts Network, Inc. (SCAN) was formed in 1985 as a non-profit, educational corporation which recently received its tax-exempt status. As a non-profit group, SCAN is better able to serve its artists, educators and other interested persons. SCAN's activities include producing the Symposium and other meetings, and maintaining a database of approximately 1500 artists and persons working in the field. This database has become a major networking tool as it enables us to refer artists, performers, consultants and manufacturers of technologies related to this field to those who may have need of them, most recently the Franklin Institute, Free Library of Philadelphia, The University of the Arts, and VIRTUS, Inc., as well as individual references.

SCAN has become a networking tool which provides a forum for new ideas and resources, and through our symposia a showcase for artwork, performances and technology. Our activities still focus on the individual artist who uses the Personal Computer.