Prior to the foundation of Electronic Arts Intermix, the Howard Wise Gallery (1960-1970) exhibited works at the nexus of art and technology with a particular emphasis on multimedia and kinetic art. The pathbreaking 1969 exhibition TV as a Creative Medium cemented Wise’s interest in the possibilities of television. The first exhibition in the United States dedicated to video, the show featured an array of approaches to TV, including performance, objects, closed-circuit tapes and installations. It was a major catalyst for the emerging heterogeneous video culture, and ultimately inspired Wise to close his gallery and open a non-profit to “explore the potentials of the electronic media as a means of expression and non-commercial communication.”

EAI's founding mission was to develop and support the emergent video medium by providing artists with access to funding, technology, and other resources. At its inception, EAI served as the sponsor for projects that included The Kitchen, the Annual Avant Garde Festivals, the first Women's Video Festival, the Open Circuits conference at MoMA, Computer Art Festivals, and the patenting and distribution of Eric Siegel's Video Synthesizers, among others. The sponsored projects were independently directed; several became autonomous once they had established stable sources of funding. The Artists' Videotape Distribution Service and the Editing/Post-Production Facility—projects initiated within EAI—were thriving by the end of the decade, and became the organization's core programs.

For more information about the early days of EAI, see A Kinetic History, a digital resource guide that charts the early history of the organization, replete with primary documents and contextualizing essays.