Panelists
2017-2018 Media Arts
September 13, 2016
9:00 AM - to conclusion
Teleconference (How to participate)
Chair: Towson Fraser
Program Manager: Hillary Crawford
Christopher Harris
Orange County
- Christopher Harris’ award-winning experimental films include a long take look at a post-industrial urban landscape, an optically printed and hand-processed film about black outlaws, a pinhole film about the cosmic consequences of the sun’s collapse, a macro lens close up of a child’s nightlight and a double projection film about a theme park performance of Christ’s Passion
- Harris recently completed two multi-screen HD video installations that reenact and reimagine the slave daguerreotypes commissioned by Louis Agassiz in 1850. He was awarded a 2015 Creative Capital grant in support of his upcoming film Speaking in Tongues. His work has screened at festivals, museums and cinematheques throughout North America and Europe including the 2014 Artists' Film Biennial at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London, the International Film Festival Rotterdam (2005, 2008, 2010), the VIENNALE-Vienna International Film Festival, the Edinburgh International Film Festival, the Leeds International Film Festival (2007, 2009), the San Francisco Cinematheque and Rencontres Internationales Paris among many others
- Cosmologies of Black Cultural Production: A Conversation with Afrosurrealist Filmmaker Christopher Harris was published in the summer 2016 issue of Film Quarterly
- MFA in Film from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, 2000
William Hughes
Collier County
- Owner of Hughes Video Productions located in Naples, Florida
- Has produced over 50 Television shows and hundreds of Internet presentations on South Florida History and Culture, Nature, and People.
- Has recorded over 100 presentations for the Marco Island Historical Society, www.MarcoIslandCommunityTelevision.com
- Served 4.5 years as Collier County Environmental Advisory Council Chair.
- Member Marco Island Historical Society
- Graduate of State University of New York at Morrisville; attended University of Georgia
Monica Pena
Miami-Dade County
- Works at the Miami Beach Cinematheque, an independent art cinema in the heart of historic South Beach
- Director, Ectotherms, premiered at the 2014 Miami International Film Festival
- Inaugural Knight Fellow at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival
- Currently in post-production on her next feature film, Hearts of Palm
- M.F.A., Film, University of California Los Angeles
Trish Riley
Alachua County
- Founding Director, Cinema Verde Environmental Film and Arts Festival
- Environmental journalist and author of The Complete Idiot's Guide to Greening Your Business; The Complete Idiot's Guide to Green Living; and Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, Miami & the Florida Keys: A Complete Guide
- Past board member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors, a member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and an honorary member of Golden Key International Honour Society
- Publisher of www.GoGreenNation.org, an environmental news resource to help build sustainable communities
- Business member of Green America, a non-profit organization that supports sustainable businesses
Valerie Scoon
Leon County
- Former executive at Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Films and Warner Bros. Producer for feature films The Great Debaters and The Wedding
- Other work includes being an Associate Director in News and Public Affairs at PBS where she assessed work in progress documentaries for possible national distribution.
- Professor at Florida State University Film School and oversees the script development of graduate and undergraduate thesis films. Over her time there, her students have won ten Student Emmys.
- Ms. Scoon has her own film company, True Visions. Most recently, Ms. Scoon completed a documentary on the psychological legacy of colonialism in Grenada which has been invited to screen in NY, LA, South Africa and the Caribbean among other festivals and countries.
- Ms. Scoon graduated from Harvard University with a degree in the History and Literature of America.
Shelley Wolfe
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Station Manager of Media & Production Services, PSTV Education Channel
- Former Executive Director of KMVT 15 Silicon Valley Community Media
- She has spent nearly 20 years working in community television, running three PEG stations across the country that encompassed numerous channels. Shelley is known in the community for her outreach, mentoring, leadership and connecting individuals and businesses with media opportunities to tell their stories. She has received numerous awards for Mentorship, Leadership and Video Production
- She has also spent the last two decades working in the music industry on global campaigns featuring international talent, artist management & development, event & conference planning, administration, operations & fund development, sales & marketing, digital & media literacy programs, A/V production services, program development, social media campaigns, producer, editor, distribution with digital & traditional media outlets for both audio & visual media content. Today, manages her own company Toolbox Entertainment & Strategic Consulting, and is Co- Owner of VTeam Music Services
- Shelley currently sits on the Board of Directors for Alliance for Community Media – National Board, OneDrum Foundation