The Art House Convergence: January 17-20, 2011
Leadership and Planning committee
Sundance Institute Senior Liaison – John Cooper
Chair – Art House Project/Art House Convergence – Russ Collins, Michigan Theater
Co-Chair – Art House Project – Lisa Ogdie, Sundance Institute
Co-Chairs – Art House Convergence – Tori Baker & Amy Beth Leber, Salt Lake City Film Society
Treasurer – Stephanie Silverman, Belcourt Theatre
Program Coordinator – Jan Klingelhofer
Original organizer of the Art House Project: Connie White, Balcony Releasing and Balcony Booking
Web Designer and Art House Consultant - Joe Zina (previously Coolidge Corner Theatre, Executive Director)
John Cooper , Director, Sundance Film Festival and founder of Art House Project for the Sundance Institute
2009 Key Note Speaker and inspiration behind the formation of the Sundance Arthouse Project, John Cooper (Festival Programmer of Sundance for the past 20 years) welcomes and addresses the 2009 gathering of Art Houses in Salt Lake City.
Russ Collins, Executive Director, Michigan Theater
Russ Collins has served as Executive Director of the Michigan Theater since 1982. The Michigan Theater is a fully-restored 1920s era movie palace that is operated as an elegant, not-for-profit arts facility presenting and hosting a wide-variety of high quality film and live-on-stage programs. The Michigan Theater operates four cinema screens, including two at the 1942 State Theater located ½ block from the Michigan in Downtown Ann Arbor. The Michigan Theater was named the Outstanding Historic Theater in North America by the League of Historic American Theaters; it is an Art House Project theater of the Sundance Institute. Russ teaches film studies and arts administration at Eastern Michigan University. Russ’ professional honors include: Professional Theatre Program Fellow of the University of Michigan; Arts Administration Fellow of the National Endowment for the Arts; Knighted by Republic of Italy as "Calvaliere nell'Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana" for his promotion of Italian film culture in the United States. Russ serves on: the Board of the Ann Arbor Film Festival; Downtown Development Authority Board of Directors; Appointed by Governor to Michigan Humanities Council; State Street Area Association Board of Directors; Ann Arbor Area Chamber of Commerce – currently presides at the monthly Morning Edition program. He is Co-Chair of the Sundance Institute’s Art House Project (Los Angeles, CA); National Conference Director of the Art House Convergence, an annual meeting of the nation’s community-based, mission-driven specialty film theaters (Salt Lake City, UT). Russ is an Ann Arbor, Michigan native who received both a Bachelors and Masters Degree (in arts administration) from the University of Michigan.
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONVERGENCE
Please contact: rcollins@michtheater.org
IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE CONVERGENCE
Please contact: rcollins@michtheater.org
Tori Baker, Executive Director Salt Lake Film Society and Tower Theatre Salt Lake City
Executive Director of the Salt Lake City Film Society, Tori has over 10 years of not-for-profit, film/world event and cultural institutions experience. She is the current director of a statewide not-for-profit film presentation organization with three venues, twelve community programs and over thirty employees and is responsible for the creation and implementation of artistic film programs. Her background includes; event management, world events (2002 Olympic Winter Games), political grassroots fund raising, development consulting, community development, long-term planning, budget management, tax processing, payroll and audits. Tori is a leader, who strives to achieve organizational goals through dynamic team management working creatively with boards, committees, staff and donors. Tori has a passion for the not-for-profit mission with its local and world vision. Her professional goal is to look to the future with strong organizational roots, build from solid foundations of creative experience and balance positive work ethics to achieve a position that will ensure long-term personal growth and stability.
Amy Beth Leber, Salt Lake Film Society
Stephanie Silverman, Managing Director, Belcourt Theatre, Nashville
Stephanie jointed the Belcourt Theatre in early 2007 and is responsible for managing the overall operations and future planning of the two theatre complex in the heart of Nashville, Tennessee. Primarily Nashville’s home for art, independent, repertory and foreign cinema, the Belcourt is also a popular venue for concerts, theatre and special events. Prior to her tenure with the Belcourt, Stephanie worked for several non-profit arts organizations including the Cance Center of Columbia College Chicago; Jahn Michael Kohler Arts Center, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and founded the Arts on the Green Festival in Omaha, Nebraska. She also worked with RMS Titanic, Inc. (now Premier exhibitions) and artist management/concert promotion agency Exceptional Artists. Stephanie holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and North Carolina School for the Arts.
Jan Klingelhofer - Pacific Film Resources
Jan Klingelhofer has worked in movie distribution and exhibition for over thirty years. From a booking clerk at Paramount Pictures Corporation, she moved to Twentieth Century Fox and then on to Parallax Theatre Systems, which eventually became Landmark Theatre Corporation, During her twelve years at Landmark Jan became Vice President of Film Buying, responsible for programming repertory calendars, first run specialized and upscale commercial runs, genre series and midnight shows in theatres across the United States. In 1992, Klingelhofer launched her own consulting service advising independent theatre owners, retaining a focus on independent films and historic theater buildings. A participant in Women in Film, Jan was one of the founding members and former president of Northern California Women in Film and Television. In 1985, she co-founded the first ON SCREEN: A Celebration of Women in Film, a festival devoted to feature films directed by women. Her consulting business allows her the opportunity to work with independent organizations around the country to preserve the unparalleled experience of watching films in a theater.
Connie White, Balcony Booking and Releasing
Connie White has been working in the independent film business for twenty years, initially as an innovative programmer of films for the historic Brattle Theatre in Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts. There, she served as co-owner, operator and film programmer/booker from 1987-2001 of this legendary art house. Since 1996, she has been programming and booking art and independent films for the now flourishing Coolidge Corner Theatre in Brookline, Mass. - the Boston area’s only not-for-profit movie palace – and also for the Pleasant Street Theater in Northampton, Mass, the New Art Cinemas in Provincetown, Mass, Amherst Cinema Arts Center in Amherst, MA, the Broadway Centre Cinemas in Salt Lake City, Utah, and Film Streams in Omaha, NE.
In 1992, she co-founded the Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, a critically-acclaimed series of films for, about, and by women, which ran for 11 years. Since 1999, Ms. White has served as the Artistic Director of the Provincetown International Film Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which, under her direction, has hosted and honored such acclaimed independent filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant, Mira Nair, Christine Vachon, Todd Haynes, Quentin Tarantino and John Waters.
Taking what she has learned first-hand about specialty and art-film exhibition, in 2002 Ms. White created Balcony Releasing, which designs and implements theatrical distribution strategies for independently produced documentary features. Her first release, Daughter From Danang, went on to win an Academy Award Nomination for Best Feature Documentary.Current Balcony Releasing films include the acclaimed documentaries Sir! No Sir!, The Same River Twice, Love and Diane, Wrestling With Angels – Playwright Tony Kushner, Al Franken: God Spoke, King Corn, The Dhamma Brothers, and Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Ms. White was awarded The 2000 "Image Award for Vision and Excellence" from Women in Film and Video, New England. She served on the jury for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and is a programming consultant for the Sundance Institute’s “Art House Project.”
In 1992, she co-founded the Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema, a critically-acclaimed series of films for, about, and by women, which ran for 11 years. Since 1999, Ms. White has served as the Artistic Director of the Provincetown International Film Festival in Provincetown, Massachusetts, which, under her direction, has hosted and honored such acclaimed independent filmmakers as Jim Jarmusch, Gus Van Sant, Mira Nair, Christine Vachon, Todd Haynes, Quentin Tarantino and John Waters.
Taking what she has learned first-hand about specialty and art-film exhibition, in 2002 Ms. White created Balcony Releasing, which designs and implements theatrical distribution strategies for independently produced documentary features. Her first release, Daughter From Danang, went on to win an Academy Award Nomination for Best Feature Documentary.Current Balcony Releasing films include the acclaimed documentaries Sir! No Sir!, The Same River Twice, Love and Diane, Wrestling With Angels – Playwright Tony Kushner, Al Franken: God Spoke, King Corn, The Dhamma Brothers, and Pray the Devil Back to Hell. Ms. White was awarded The 2000 "Image Award for Vision and Excellence" from Women in Film and Video, New England. She served on the jury for the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and is a programming consultant for the Sundance Institute’s “Art House Project.”
Joe Zina, Art House Consulting
Joe Zina joined the Coolidge Corner Theatre in 1997 as a volunteer on the board of directors. In 1999, he was appointed Executive Director of the Foundation, following a diversified career history in public school arts education, college teaching, five years as a professional dancer with the Nikolais Dance Theatre of NYC. In 1982, he co-founded Rugg Road Papers and Prints with husband Bernard Toale while developing himself as a visual artist, collaborator, and paper store entrepreneur. At the Coolidge Corner Theatre, he has succeeded in making the organization financially stable having complete renovations, restoration and ADA compliancy with $2.5 million in capital improvements. He has added two video screening rooms and expanded two screens with stages for live performance. After ten full years of delight at the Coolidge he passes the torch to his successor, Denise Kasell on January 31.