Advisory Board
Jen Beck is the founder of EvalArts, a consulting practice that specializes in evaluation and grant planning for the arts and culture, independent media, informal education, nonprofit, and philanthropic communities. Since 2001, Jen has designed and managed more than 25 evaluations for a broad array of clients and programs, including a multi-media literacy project, a children’s television program, museum education programs, and community outreach initiatives. Prior to EvalArts, Jen worked for research and evaluation firms in Cambridge, MA and Austin, TX, and earned a doctorate in social psychology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Lila Carl spent 25 years as director of non-profit organizations, higher education teaching, and community volunteer. Over her career, she raised millions of dollars through federal, state, local and foundations. She has received numerous awards for her work, including United Way’s executive director of the year in 1998, runner up in Ernst and Young’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year in 2005, and the Lone Star Council Girl Scout’s 2005 Women of Distinction award. She founded the Austin affiliate of Any Baby Can in 1994 and took the organization from a staff of 3 with a budget of $123K to a staff of 70 with a budget of $3.6 M. She executed mergers with CEDEN Family Resource Center and Candlelighter’s Children Cancer Society. One of her greatest achievements was the purchase and funding of a beautiful building one block east of IH 35 on 7th street.
Kathleen Carroll is the former chief film critic of the New York Daily News. In that job she covered numerous film festivals and co-produced the ITV documentary, Diary of the Cannes Film Festival. She has served on the juries of the Berlin, Montreal and Santa Barbara Film Festivals and is a featured programmer (along with Roger Ebert and Richard Corliss) of the Floating Film Festival. A three time chairperson of the New York Film Critics Circle, she has taught film at New York University and St. John's University. She has also written for numerous publications, including Premiere magazine. She is both the co-founder and the artistic director of the Lake Placid Film Festival.
Artistic Director of Kingdom County Productions- has made award-winning feature films, including Where the Rivers Flow North (with Rip Torn, Tantoo Carninal, Michael J. Fox); A Stranger in the Kingdom (with David Landsbury, Ernie Hudson, Martin Sheen) and The Year that Trembled (with Marin Hinkle, Jonathan Brandis, Fred Willard, Martin Mull, Henry Gibson). Craven also directs KCP's Fledgling Films Program for teen filmmakers; and is the recipient of awards including The Producers Guild of America's 1995 NOVA Award for Most Promising New Producer of the Year. Jay most recently completed production on a Vermont PBS series Windy Acres, and just finished the KCP production of Disappearances, starring Kris Kristoferson.
Mike Curtis presently runs HD For Indies, a consultancy and informational website (blog) updated most every day with the latest news, analysis, workflows and commentary relevant to the independent moviemaker looking to make the best product possible with whatever budget is available. Mike started HD for Indies after a 15 year career in digital media production making content for everything from cell phones to movie screens for clients such as Ford, IBM, Dell, etc. Mike has consulted on projects with budgets from zero to 7 digits for films showing at SXSW and other festivals.
- http://www.hdforindies.com/
Kelly De Vine acquires shorts and independent features for the Independent Film Channel bringing the best of independent film to viewers uncut and uncensored 24 hours a day. With the channel for almost six years, she has worked in acquisitions for nearly five and had worked previously with the film production division. While working chiefly for the channel, she has also brought talent and films to the production and theatrical divisions of IFC Companies, notably Lost in La Mancha by Louis Pepe and Keith Fulton the critically acclaimed doc focusing on the "unmaking" of Terry Gilliam's dream turned nightmare project to bring his telling of Don Quixote to the screen. Recent short film acquisitions include films from Margaret Harris, Ellie Lee and the filmmaking team of Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck all named in the Filmmaker Magazine's 2004 "25 Faces of Indie Film." She also acquires for HDCinema 10, owned and operated by IFC's parent company, part of the all HD suite of networks available only through the VOOM satellite. She is a regular on the festival circuit seeking out fresh talent as well as moderating and speaking on numerous panels. She holds a bachelor of Liberal Arts degree with a focus on contemporary literature and film studies and a master's in Sociology.
Jonathan Estrin joined the American Film Institute (AFI) in October 2004 as Executive Vice President. Estrin is responsible for AFI's day-to-day operations, including the design and supervision of all education and training programs, a range of national outreach and development efforts, extensive exhibition activities and AFI's internationally renowned preservation programs. Prior to AFI, Estrin was the Dean, of the College of Media Arts & Design for Drexel University. During his four-year tenure at Drexel, he developed and implemented a comprehensive business and marketing plan that resulted in a 300% increase in development funds raised, a 35% increase in enrollment and an 80% increase in applications. Estrin also initiated a Masters of Architecture program, a Masters in Digital Media, a major in Music Industry complete with its own record label, and boosted the ranking of the Interior Design program to one of the top 10 in the country. Estrin has also produced and written over 100 hours of award-winning television, including series, movies and mini-series for major broadcast and cable networks. Estrin's most recent project was the Showtime original movie, Japer, Texas. For the past 10 years, Estrin has served as Chairman of the Board of Operation USA, an international medical relief and development agency that has sent over $200 million in goods to 81 countries.
Juan Garcia is an independent filmmaker and producer based in Austin, Texas. At 28 he is the Executive Producer and creator of the “SFS TV” video podcast, the first podcast devoted to showcasing international student films as well as giving university students worldwide the opportunity to be the creative voice behind the production. Correspondingly, he serves as Video Producer for the Faculty Innovation Center at the University of Texas where he has designed and implemented a series of educational podcasts. Along with his work, Juan sits on the board of the Austin Media Arts Council and is the Youth Media Program Chair for the 2007 National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture Conference. Inspired by films and technology at a young age, Juan began his career as a radio DJ in 1996 before moving to Austin to earn a degree in Radio-Television-Film from the University of Texas.
Ruth Glendinning is a Business Marketer to Cultural Strategist. She creates profit in both public and private spaces. Ruth speaks, teaches and consults internationally with a mission to inspire her clients to live their best lives through identifying connections for them that bring them into the realm of success, satisfaction, and point them towards the path to achieve their full potential. Her personal and professional development seminars and programs explore diverse topics, ranging from culture, commerce and community, and discuss how all those elements work together as the basis for sustainable growth. Her life's work is the ongoing exploration of a wide variety of philosophies in pursuit of what is commonly known today as Living Your Bliss. In addition to her work with iCREATE, she is partnering with Dr. Asha Prasad to develop a unique concept which will be a 'one stop shop for inner and outer healing', writing her first book on cultural strategy and continually creating methods to bring her knowledge to bigger audiences. After all, if you don't speak their language, you can't expect them to follow you anywhere! Finally, as you will learn upon meeting her, all this is just a small taste of the ways she expresses her mission to create connection across the planet. her life experiences have led her to admire the insight of Albert Einstein when he said "No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it." She not only believes it, she lives by it.
Gill Holland is a producer whose credits include the Fox sit-com Greg the Bunny, Morgan J. Freeman's triple Sundance award-winning Hurricane Streets (MGM); and his follow-up Desert Blue (Samuel Goldwyn), starring Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, and and Kate Hudson; Rob Tregenza’s Inside/Out (Cannes 1997); John-Luke Montias' Bobby G. Can't Swim (winner AFI 1999, Best Film and Best Director); Tom Gilroy's award-winning Spring Forward (starring Ned Beatty and Liev Schreiber and on many critics' top ten lists for 2000); and Tim Kirkman's Spirit Award and Emmy-nominated documentary Dear Jesse (Cowboy Booking). Holland was also nominated for the Spirit Award for Producer of the Year in 1998. He is an adjunct professor at the NYU Graduate Film School. Gill worked for three years at the French Film Office after a brief stint at October/USA Films. He is working on a movie about the Wright Brothers and a TV series based on Interpol.
Before joining the Texas Film Commission as director in December 2005, Bob Hudgins was Deputy Director of the Illinois Film Office for eight years. Projects that he helped bring to Illinois include Road To Perdition; Spiderman 2; Batman Begins and the Fox TV series Prison Break. From 1985 to 1998, he was a freelance film location manager on projects including Field of Dreams; Planes, Trains and Automobiles; Michael (filmed in central Texas); Wayne’s World; Rudy; and Groundhog Day. As the director of the Texas Film Commission, Bob is using his years of experience and his extensive network of industry contacts to increase film and television production in all parts of Texas. This year, Bob has been pleased to welcome a number of major projects to Texas, including Season Two of Prison Break, the new NBC series Friday Night Lights and an untitled feature from director Kimberley Peirce, her first in Texas since the Academy Award-winning Boys Don't Cry.
Eric Mofford recently produced and directed the TNT reality special, Dramatic Auditions. Other recent producing credits include the PBS documentary series, Senior Year, and the feature film, Finding Home. He has worked as an Assistant Director and Production Manager on over 30 feature films and television programs including 24, Clockwatchers, Lover Girl, Kalifornia and Daughters of the Dust. His numerous music video credits include Aerosmith, Sheryl Crow and Alan Jackson. Eric has taught numerous media workshops and has been a panelist on many funding councils and film festival seminars. In 1998, he was a judge at the Nashville Film Festival. He is a member of the Directors Guild of America and a member of the DGA Mentor Committee. He has written and directed projects for Disney Interactive, Saban Entertainment, The Discovery Channel, United Way and the Atlanta Project. His extensive knowledge and love of music led to writing and directing the short dramatic blues film, Travelin' Trains, on A&E. The film won a dozen national and international film festival awards including the CINE Golden Eagle. Read More About Eric's Recent Projects
John Sisti is an award winning sound editor, recording engineer and teacher. His work in sound and foley work on feature films includes, My Girl, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and Cable Guy, and on independent features such as Truce and WithIn. In 1992 he won an Oscar for his work in sound editing on Bram Stoker's Dracula. He has also worked as a dialog editor and sound editor for various television series, such as Mad About You, for which he won an Emmy in 1993 and 1994. Outside of his work on films and television, he has served as the sound consultant and systems designer for buildings on the MGM studio lot and as a recording engineer for A&M Records where he worked with such artists as Joan Baez, Paul Simon, George Harrison, and Barbara Streisand. Currently he is a professor at the Savannah College of Art and Design.
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