"James Grace has been the Executive Director of the Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts of Massachusetts (VLA) since 1998, which provides free and reduced fee legal services and educational programs to Massachusetts artists and cultural organizations. Jim has experience working with artists and arts organizations in the areas of publishing law, copyright, nonprofit incorporation, budget matters, conflict resolution, artist live/work and nonprofit board issues.
2009 Conference Speakers
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"Kay Sprinkle Grace is a San Francisco-based organizational consultant specializing in board and donor development strategies and practices. The author of six books, and a globally renown speaker and thinker, Kay has been principal of her own consulting firm for more than 20 years. She is a graduate of Stanford University (BA, MA) and a seasoned volunteer as well as a professional. She is passionate about philanthropy, her photography, her grandchildren and life."
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"A staff writer for Rhizome, Ed Halter is a critic and curator living in New York City. His writing has appeared in Artforum, Arthur, The Believer, Cinema Scope, Kunstforum, Millennium Film Journal, Moving Image Source, the Village Voice and elsewhere. From 1995 to 2005, he programmed and oversaw the New York Underground Film Festival, and has organized screenings and exhibitions for the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Cinematexas, Eyebeam, the Flaherty Film Seminar, the Museum of Modern Art, and San Francisco Cinematheque.
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"Thomas Allen Harris is the founder and President of Chimpanzee Productions, a company dedicated to producing unique audio-visual experiences that illuminate the Human Condition and the search for identity, family, and spirituality. Chimpanzee's innovative and award-winning films have received critical acclaim at International film festivals such as Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, FESPACO, Outfest, Flaherty and Cape Town and have been broadcast on PBS, the Sundance Channel, ARTE, as well as CBC, Swedish broadcasting Network and New Zealand Television. Mr.
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"Yolanda is an organizer and strategist with 10 years' experience supporting progressive media and arts projects, developing high-impact campaigns, building coalitions, and producing large-scale events. As a founding staffer and Outreach Director of the national media policy organization Free Press, she produced four installations of the high-profile National Conference for Media Reform, built the organization's field program, developed multimedia outreach materials, and ran successful policy campaigns including the Stop Big Media campaign.
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"Maori is a producer, director, writer, and curator. She currently serves as the Communications Director at the Leeway Foundation, president of the Black Lily Film and Music Festival, and on the advisory boards of the Philly 360* Coalition, WPHA-TV, and Black Pearl Chamber Orchestra. Recently named a Creative Ambassador for the City of Philadelphia, her most recent films include Rah Crawford: Pop Star and Scene Not Heard: Women in Philadelphia Hip Hop. Maori received her B.A. in History from American University and M.F.A. in Film and Media Arts from Temple University.
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"Dan Hunter is the executive director of the Massachusetts Advocates for the Arts, Sciences, and Humanities (MAASH) a statewide advocacy and education group. An award-winning playwright, songwriter and humorist, Hunter also has 25 years' experience in politics and arts advocacy, serving as Director of the Iowa Department of Cultural Affairs (a cabinet appointment requiring Senate confirmation) and running a successful advertising and political consultancy firm in Des Moines.
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"Meri Jenkins is Program Director of the Adams Arts Program for the Creative Economy at the Massachusetts Cultural Council. The program promotes the use of cultural assets in economic development efforts to revitalize communities, increase revenue, create jobs and increase cultural participation. She was formerly the Principal Manager of Business in the Arts South UK; an organization focused on boosting commercial and cultural sector relations. Jenkins has over twenty-five years of experience and a thorough knowledge of the cultural sector's challenges in the US and the UK. "
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"Scott Kirsner is a journalist who writes about innovation, with a special focus on the ways that new technologies are changing the entertainment industry. His most recent book is """"Fans, Friends & Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age,"""" published in May 2009. Scott writes regularly for Variety and The Boston Globe, and edits the blog CinemaTech (http://cinematech.blogspot.com). His earlier books include """"Inventing the Movies,"""" a technological history of Hollywood.
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"Joyce Kulhawik, having concluded a 27-year stint as arts and entertainment critic for Boston's CBS affiliate, is currently lending her expertise as an arts advocate, critic, host, and performer to non-profits all over town. She may also be seen on the air as a judge on New England's premiere Emmy Award-winning musical talent showcase, "Community Auditions." As an Emmy Award-winning journalist, Kulhawik has covered local and national events from Boston and Broadway to Hollywood.
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"Sheila Leddy is the Executive Director at The Fledgling Fund. She has worked with the Fund since its inception playing a key role in developing its overall strategy in collaboration with the Fund's president and board. She plays a leadership role in its Creative Media Initiative, developing grant guidelines, reviewing and developing projects and assessing their potential to advance the Fund's mission. In 2008, she co-authored the white paper, Assessing Creative Media's Social Impact.
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"Eloise S. Lee is a cultural worker, educator, and filmmaker based in the Bay Area of CA. As the Program Director for Media Alliance, she coordinated Oakland's first Digital Inclusion Summit in February 2008 and coordinates the Raising Our Voices Media and Communication Rights Training Program for low-income women, young people and seniors in East Oakland. Eloise holds a BFA in Film and Television Production from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and an MA in Asian American Studies from San Francisco State University.
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"WENDY LEVY is the Director of Creative Programming at BAVC, and the Director of the Producers Institute for New Media Technologies. She develops and oversees content partnerships for BAVC's production, exhibition, and distribution programs, grants and residencies for independent producers and public broadcasters, programming for BAVC's Video Preservation Center, and directs the Nonprofit Institute for New Media Applications. Wendy speaks regularly at international festivals and conferences, on a broad range of topics in documentary, emerging media social justice, and human rights.
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"Since 2002, Ted Libbey has served as the director of the media arts program at the National Endowment for the Arts. For twenty years prior to that he was a commentator for National Public Radio. Surprisingly, for people involved in government work, he is a native of Washington, D.C."
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"Brad Lichtenstein has produced for FRONTLINE and Bill Moyers. With Lumiere Productions he produced With God on Our Side: The History of the Religious Right; Andre's Lives, a portrait of the "Jewish Schindler;" The Discovery Channel's Safe, about domestic violence; PBS's Caught in the Crossfire, about 3 Arab New Yorkers after 9/11; the PBS series Local News, and the BBC/Court TV co-production of Ghosts of Attica, for which he was awarded a Dupont. Most recent was Almost Home, a PBS Independent Lens documentary about people who live and work in a elder-care community.
