Arts Engine: About <style type="text/css"> @import "http://www.artsengine.net/?css=site/.tabbed_css.v.1277155035"; @import "http://www.artsengine.net/?css=site/default_css.v.1265674058"; @import "http://www.artsengine.net/?css=fs/.fs_css.v.1275399298"; </style> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <meta name="description" content="Arts Engine, Inc. supports, produces, and distributes independent media of consequence and promotes the use of independent media by advocates, educators and the general public." /> <meta name="keywords" content="independent film, human rights, arts engine, activism, social, justice, documentary, film, shorts, video, immigration, criminal justice, gay, lesbian, welfare, prison, racial, race, social issue, database, environment, health, gender, society, youth, news, articles" /> <script src="/lib/jquery-1.4.2.min.js" type="text/javascript"></script> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.artsengine.net/site/default_js/"></script> <script> $(document).ready(function () { $('#screenimg').hover(function () { $(this).css({'background-position': '-64px 0px'}); 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}); </script> </div>  </td> <td class="headerTableSides"> </td> </tr> </table> </div> <div id="separator"></div> <div id="content_frame"> <div class="float_left"> <h2>Staff</h2> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="steve_mendelsohn"><h1>Steve Mendelsohn</h1></a> <h4>Executive Director</h4> <p>Prior to joining Arts Engine, Steve was the executive director of FilmAid International, which teaches refugees to create films and videos on vital issues including health, human rights, protection of women and girls, repatriation information, and more. The films are screened for the communities in large outdoor nighttime events and in smaller focused workshops during the day. Before FilmAid, Steve was the executive director of Project Rebirth, a nonprofit organization based in downtown Manhattan, whose mission is to document the entire reconstruction of the World Trade Center site through a feature-length documentary film and an installation in the Memorial Museum at Ground Zero. From 2002 to 2005, Steve was the executive director of Manhattan Neighborhood Network, the nation’s largest nonprofit public access cable television network. Prior to that, Steve was a general manager at Razorfish, an internet design and consulting company, and he also worked at Nurun, a French Canadian internet consulting firm. Steve also worked for a decade with American Express in a variety of marketing roles. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.</p> <p><a href="mailto:steve@artsengine.net">steve@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="katy_chevigny"><h1>Katy Chevigny</h1></a> <h4>Co-Founder and Senior Director</h4> <p>Katy Chevigny, Arts Engine's co-founder and senior director, is a documentary filmmaker, entrepreneur and nonprofit manager. For fifteen years, Chevigny has advocated for a diverse media culture, one that illuminates important stories and amplifies voices not often heard in the mainstream media. Chevigny founded Arts Engine and its predecessor Big Mouth Productions. In 2000, Arts Engine launched MediaRights.org, a “knowledge commons” for filmmakers, activists, educators, and the general public. MediaRights.org currently hosts information on over 7,000 films and is home to nearly 20,000 members from around the world. Media That Matters is now in its tenth successful year, drawing attention to the most important issues of our day showcasing short films through a multi-platform, web-based strategy. More than a film festival, Media That Matters reached over three million viewers in 2009. As a film director, Chevigny most recently directed the film <em>Election Day</em>, which premiered at the South By Southwest (SXSW) Film Festival in March 2007 and was broadcast on public television by POV in 2008. Chevigny also co-directed <em>Deadline</em> (2004), an Emmy-nominated documentary about the dramatic events that took place in Illinois in 2003 concerning capital punishment. The film aired on NBC in July 2004 and premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, won a CINE Golden Eagle Grand Jury Award and the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award. Chevigny has produced many award-winning documentaries at Arts Engine, including: <em>Arctic Son</em>, <em>Journey to the West: Chinese Medicine Today</em>, <em>Nuyorican Dream</em>, <em>Innocent Until Proven Guilty</em> and <em>Outside Looking In: Transracial Adoption in America</em>.</p> <p><a href="mailto:katy@artsengine.net">katy@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="enrico_cullen"><h1>Enrico Cullen</h1></a> <h4>Director of Development and External Affairs</h4> <p>Enrico Cullen joined Arts Engine in 2005 to spearhead business development, income initiatives for documentary production and social-issue media programs, and brand articulation. Focusing on sustainability in the nonprofit media sector, Enrico secures funding from a broad spectrum of philanthropies, corporations, municipal sources and family foundations, including: Cinereach, Surdna Foundation, Adobe, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Seventh Generation, Netflix, Bay and Paul Foundations, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and more. Under Enrico's development leadership, Arts Engine continues to refine and expand on its reputation as one of the nation's leading independent media organizations focusing on social issues. Before joining Arts Engine, Enrico was the Director of Development & Public Affairs for the Center for the Urban Environment, a $2.5 million nonprofit providing environmental education programs to over 100,000 New York City children, youth and adults each year. He led the planning team and the launch of the Academy of Urban Planning, a New Visions public school located in Bushwick, Brooklyn, and was a principal for the preliminary planning and strategy stages of the organization's LEED-certified headquarters. Enrico holds degrees from the University of Chicago and the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has held faculty appointments at the University of St. Petersburg in Russia and Richard Daly City College in Chicago.</p> <p><a href="mailto:enrico@artsengine.net">enrico@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="kibra_yohannes"><h1>Kibra Yohannes</h1></a> <h4>Director of Operations</h4> <p>Prior to her position as Director of Operations for Arts Engine, Kibra was Director of Programs, working most closely with MediaRights.org, the Media That Matters Film Festival, and the Youth Media Distribution Initiative. Before joining Arts Engine in 2002, she worked in theater production as Company Manager for Freedom Repertory Theater in Philadelphia, a member of the League of Resident Theatres. She also established the first digital archive for the oldest African American newspaper in the United States, The Philadelphia Tribune, and its 120 year-old photo library. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from the University of Virginia. She recently served on the Advisory Board of Full Circle Productions, a Hip Hop theater company and as a mentor for Project Involve, an Independent Feature Project (IFP) mentorship program for filmmakers of color.</p> <p><a href="mailto:kibra@artsengine.net">kibra@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="angela_tucker"><h1>Angela Tucker</h1></a> <h4>Director of Production</h4> <p>Angela Tucker has worked at Big Mouth Films for the past seven years and is currently the Director of Production. She is directing the film <em>Asexuality: The Making of a Movement</em> and producing the films, <em>Rose and Nangabire</em> and <em>Dreaming Nicaragua</em>. She was the Associate Producer, Sound Recordist and Outreach Director for the Emmy nominated film, <em>Deadline</em> (NBC, <em>Dateline</em>). She was a Consulting Producer and Field Producer for <em>Election Day</em> (POV, PBS) and a Line Producer for <em>Beyond the Steps: The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater</em> (PBS' Great Performances). She directs and produces educational videos for non-profit organizations such as ACORN Housing and GLSEN in addition to producing spots for broadcasters such as Nickelodeon. She directed two shorts for The National Black Programming Consortium and ITVS’ Initiative, <em>The Masculinity Project</em>, entitled <em>Invisible Men</em>. She received an MFA in Film from Columbia University where she was awarded a grant from The Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Dean's Fellowship and a Milos Forman Finishing Fund Award. Angela received her B.A. with Honors from Wesleyan University in Theater and African-American Studies. She is a member of New York Women in Film and Television.</p> <p><a href="mailto:angela@artsengine.net">angela@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="david_wright"><h1>David Wright</h1></a> <h4>Director of Technology and Online Programs</h4> <p>With an extensive background in Information Technology and Film Production, David has produced and co-directed projects like <em>Creating Karma</em> and <em>Maya's Soul</em>. Prior to joining Arts Engine, David spent two and a half years working in developing countries like India, China, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Uganda, Nigeria and Syria on the world's only Flying Eye Hospital, an organization dedicated to eliminating avoidable blindness. David's professional background includes seven years as an IT manager, web developer and database engineer in both the non-profit and for profit sectors.</p> <p><a href="mailto:david@artsengine.net">david@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="jolene_pinder"><h1>Jolene Pinder</h1></a> <h4>Director of Festival and Outreach</h4> <p>Jolene has worked at Arts Engine for the past three years. Prior to becoming the Festival and Outreach Director, she was an Associate Producer at Big Mouth Films (the production arm of Arts Engine). She is currently a co-producer on the Arts Engine work-in-progress <em>Asexuality: The Making of a Movement</em>. In her role in the production department, she was Associate Producer for Outreach and Distribution on Arts Engine's latest releases, <em>Arctic Son</em> and <em>Election Day</em>. Jolene's personal film <em>Bismillah</em> was a finalist for the International Documentary Association's David Wolper Award, won first place in the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences' College Television Awards (Student Emmys) and was the recipient of a CINE Golden Eagle Award. Her short film <em>Little Fountains</em> screened at MoMA as part of her work with the UnionDocs Collaborative. Jolene has a background in marketing, sponsorship and graphic design in a variety of non-profit settings—consumer rights, education reform, and most recently, public broadcasting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors in English Literature from the University of Chicago and a Masters in Journalism and Communications from the University of Florida's Documentary Institute.</p> <p><a href="mailto:jolene@artsengine.net">jolene@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="elizabeth_mandel"><h1>Elizabeth Mandel</h1></a> <h4>Producer</h4> <p>Elizabeth is directing <em>Rose & Nangabire</em> (working title), along with Beth Davenport, for which she received a New York State Council on the Arts Fellowship. She produced the film <em>Arctic Son</em>, and was a co-producer on Jennifer Fox's film <em>Flying: Confessions of a Free Woman</em>. She directs and produces educational videos for non-profit organizations such as Jewish Women International and for Johns Hopkins Medical Center's Project Restore, in addition to producing spots for Nickelodeon and Sundance Channel. Elizabeth served as an associate producer for Jasmine Dellal's <em>When the Road Bends</em> and was the producer of the <em>Deadline</em> DVD. Prior to joining Big Mouth in 2001, she worked for the United Nations and the Asia Foundation. She has also worked in India, Cambodia, Nepal and Japan on a variety of community development, leadership training and citizen participation projects. She holds a Master's Degree from Columbia University in International Affairs, with a focus on Economic and Political Development and graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a B.A. in Religion and East Asian Cultures.</p> <p><a href="mailto:elizabeth@artsengine.net">elizabeth@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="beth_davenport"><h1>Beth Davenport</h1></a> <h4>Producer</h4> <p>Having worked in various capacities at Big Mouth since 2003, Beth brings over eight years of production and outreach experience in television, commercials and award-winning documentaries for P.O.V., Sundance Channel, BBC and Arte France as well as directing advocacy videos and short films. Film credits include: the Emmy-nominated film <em>Deadline</em>, Thomas Balmes' <em>Wrongful Death</em> and <em>Election Day</em>. Beth is currently a producer at Arts Engine, Inc./Big Mouth Films and is producing <em>The Dishes</em>, directed by Katy Chevigny and directing <em>Rose and Nangabire</em>, a feature-length documentary work-in-progress.</p> <p><a href="mailto:beth@artsengine.net">beth@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="austra_zubkovs"><h1>Austra Zubkovs</h1></a> <h4>Technology and Online Programs Associate</h4> <p>Austra came to Arts Engine in 2007 after graduating from Ithaca College, where she studied video production, international media, and anthropology. In an effort to blend her passion for independent media with her dedication to social rights activism, she has worked in various capacities with the Media That Matters Film Festival and the Technology and Online Programs department. Among her various projects, Austra keeps our site content fresh, manages our Engine Feed blog, our monthly newsletter and social networking assets, and is our in-house designer. In her free time, Austra enjoys oil-pasteling, numerous types of dancing, and being Latvian.</p> <p><a href="mailto:austra@artsengine.net">austra@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="felix_endara"><h1>Felix Endara</h1></a> <h4>Filmmaker Services Manager</h4> <p>Ecuadorian-born Felix Endara is a filmmaker and independent programmer living in New York City. His films have screened at festivals including <br /> Berlinale and Mill Valley. He has programmed screenings at the Brooklyn Museum of Art; been a reviewer for P.O.V. and Tribeca All Access; and an advisor for Cinereach Reach Fellows. He currently manages Arts Engine's fiscal sponsorship program and the monthly screening series DocuClub.</p> <p><a href="mailto:felix@artsengine.net">felix@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="philip_lane"><h1>Philip Lane</h1></a> <h4>Associate of Development & External Affairs</h4> <p>Before joining Arts Engine, Phil worked in the San Francisco Bay Area for a variety of start-ups and independent media organizations. From 2003 through 2007, he served as Operations Manager for the nationally renowned Ninth Street Independent Film Center. As a mediamaker, his first feature length documentary, <em>WORKING TITLE</em>, screened at the San Francisco MOMA, Mill Valley Film Festival, and Montclair Art Museum (NJ) in 2006. The film is now being distributed to colleges and universities around the country. Phil has a degree in Film and Television from Boston University and an MBA from San Francisco State University.</p> <p><a href="mailto:phil@artsengine.net">phil@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="ashley_panzera"><h1>Ashley Panzera</h1></a> <h4>Office Manager</h4> <p>Ashley Panzera came to Arts Engine in 2009 to intern with Big Mouth Films and has since been hired on as Office Manager. She is a filmmaker and an active member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective. Her first directed and co-edited short screened at Duke University's series Fresh Docs: Works In Progress. She graduated Cum Laude with a BFA in Film Production and Minor in Women and Gender Studies from the University of North Carolina Greensboro.</p> <p><a href="mailto:ashley@artsengine.net">ashley@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="weisi_li"><h1>Weisi Li</h1></a> <h4>Festival Programmer</h4> <p>With a background in Dramatic Studies, Commedia dell'Arte and Humanities from New York University, Weisi joins Arts Engine as a newcomer to the documentary field. She has produced, directed and acted in student works as well as having worked in reality television on shows like Dog the Bounty Hunter and Parking Wars. After her internship through Little Pim and Big Mouth Films, she has become actively interested and engaged in nonfiction film. She is also currently involved in Hammer To Nail, an independent film review site, and event planning in various spheres. Weisi is a self-proclaimed Anglophile, appreciating all things British including Manchester United, Monty Python and afternoon tea.</p> <p><a href="mailto:weisi@artsengine.net">weisi@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> <div class="staff_slot"> <a name="michael_read"><h1>Michael Read</h1></a> <h4>MediaRights.org Newsletter Editor</h4> <p>In addition to acquiring and editing articles for our MediaRights.org newsletter, Michael manages a complex suite of publications for the San Francisco Film Society, presenters of the San Francisco International Film Festival. Over nearly two decades, he has presided over a variety of books, magazines, newsletters, travel guides and websites. He served as director of publications at Film Arts Foundation, where he was the editor of <em>Release Print</em> and <em>Film Arts</em> magazines. Michael also was editor of four books of fine art photography, was graphic designer of nine more, and was a founding editor of the innovative <em>see: a journal of visual culture</em>. Also a travel writer, he is an author for <em>Lonely Planet</em> and a specialist on travel in Mexico. He holds an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in New York.</p> <p><a href="mailto:michael@artsengine.net">michael@artsengine.net</a></p> </div> </div> <div id="footer_content"> <div style="float:left; width: 300px;"> <p id="left_txt">Arts Engine, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) organization incorporated in the State of New York. 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