The World of Gilbert and George (1981)
Courtesy: Milestone Films (link: https://www.milestonefilms.com)
Elections and Nominations Committee
The Elections Committee submits this final slate of Candidates for the 2018 Board Election for the consideration of AMIA Members.
All candidates are running for two-year terms. The ballot will include voting for three Board members, Secretary of the Board, and Treasurer of the Board. They will join four continuing members of the Board of Directors.
The 2018 AMIA Board and Officers Election opens Wednesday, September 12 and will close on October 12, 2018.
Ballot information, including your voting password will be emailed and mailed to all eligible members by September 12, 2018. If you wish to request a paper ballot, please contact the AMIA Office and one will be sent. Paper ballots must be received no later than October 12, 2018 at 5:00pm (PDT).
All votes are anonymous and only the final election results are tallied. The ballot will require a 25% quorum to be valid, or 212 of 846 eligible votes.
The Ballot will close October 12, 2018 at 5:00pm (PDT).
Relevant Experience
For many years I have been a member of AMIA but until now I have never served in a leadership role. This year I was surprised and thrilled to be nominated. Moving images have been my passion and life’s work since I saw my first 16mm projector and became a projectionist in college. I am currently Manager of Metadata at USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive. Previously I directed USC’s Warner Bros Archives of historical papers and Industrial Light + Magic’s Media Library of visual effects. I graduated with a BA in Film Studies from UC Santa Barbara and a Masters’ Degree in Library and Information Science from UCLA. I am a member of Tech History Sub-committee of the Technology Council of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, member of MIC’D Alliance (Oral Histories), and member of Archive Advisory Council for the Art Director’s Guild.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
My goals as member of the AMIA Board are:
Work closely with Board members and leaders in our field to increase innovation and inclusivity around AMIA’s conferences, events and publications.
Melissa DollmanRelevant Experience
13 years as AMIA member: AMIA Board of Directors (currently), Publications Committee co-chair (currently), Access Committee chair, website task force, Deep Focus Directory project manager, 25th Anniversary oral history interviewer, UCLA Student Chapter, presenter, peer-reviewer, mentor.
16 years in the field: cataloguer, librarian, archivist, consultant, intern, volunteer, instructor, exhibit designer, researcher, advocate, and student (PFA, Women In Film Foundation, UCLA, Academy Film Archive, Discovery Communications, Radcliffe Institute/Harvard, Crawford Media, State Archives of NC, North Carolina State University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill). See melissadollman.com for more.
Graduate of UCLA’s Moving Image Archive Studies program. PhD Candidate at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill concentrating on archival film/media and Digital Humanities (currently).
Published in The Moving Image and wrote a chapter on home movies and privacy in Amateur Movie Making: Aesthetics of the Everyday in New England, 1915-1960 (Indiana University Press, 2017.)
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
There’s place at the virtual and physical AMIA table for institutionally-based, independent and rogue archivists, consultants, researchers, vendors, librarians, students, activists, scholars, enthusiasts, programmers, cataloguers, collectors, filmmakers, footage providers, misfits and archive/library/studio heads. I’ve been lucky that within AMIA I have found community and I sincerely want the same for you.
As a current Director of the Board, I remain a strong advocate for members, their labor, and their voices. During these past two years, I truly hope I have contributed to fruitful conversations about, and board actions that promote, diversity and inclusion in a proactive and positive ways. I want international and long-time members, and newcomers who may shed new light into unexamined corners of the field to feel as included as I have been made to feel over the years. I want, during a new term should I be so lucky as to be re-elected, to continue with these efforts both through my and the Board’s actions, attitude(s), and open minds.
One of the specific issues I’ve really been thinking about over the past few years is outreach. I applaud the association’s ability to fund and support community archiving efforts that encourage an appreciation for moving image preservation and access more broadly. Collectively, how can we bolster the message that AMIA is about protecting cultural heritage(s) and the documentation of current/recent events? How do we encourage the public to turn to AMIA membership as mentors and experts in collection, preservation, digitization, contextualization, cataloguing, and repurposing footage? Thank you!
Jen O’LearyRelevant Experience
As a student in the UCLA Moving Image Archive Studies program I was the President of the UCLA AMIA Student Chapter, and I held internships at the USC Hugh M. Hefner Moving Image Archive, the Wende Museum, the Academy Film Archive, and NBCUniversal. I was also the 2015 recipient of the AMIA Image Permanence Institute Internship. I am currently the Archive Library Analyst in Archive Operations at NBCUniversal.
I’ve been a member of AMIA since 2014, and have attended each AMIA Conference, as well as numerous Reel Thing and DAS conferences, since AMIA 2014 in Savannah, GA. I’ve presented posters and been on panels, as well as co-planned Student Mixers, meetings, and the resume table. I was the AMIA Education Committee Student Liaison from 2015-2017, creating the Student Chapter Handbook, and have been Co-Chair of the Education Committee since 2017, where I co-created the Conference 101 Resource.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
I’m passionate about serving on the AMIA board because this organization has given me amazing opportunities to learn and collaborate with many of the leaders in our field, and I want to make sure that all students and professionals are able to take advantage of the experiences that AMIA has to offer. I was told at last year’s conference that the event was an intimidating place, and while I understood why, I was sad to hear the sentiment. As a Director of the Board, I would work to create an inclusive, diverse, and welcoming environment within the organization for returning and new professionals alike. I believe it is important to continue to work on making the conference more affordable, while also making the programming more accessible to those unable to attend in person. With greater communication and resources given between the Board and Members throughout the year, we can create stronger relationships outside of the Conference alone. We can build upon the wonderful community archiving events held around the country with more in person events, educational webinars and online guides, which can create learning opportunities for students, professionals, and community members. I’ve been incredibly lucky to have had the help of many welcoming professionals since grad school, and I want to make sure that everyone, regardless of educational experience or location, is able to have access to the same ideas and resources I had, to make the most of their educational and professional experiences, and to excel in their careers.
John PolitoRelevant Experience:
I have served on the AMIA board for the past 2 years. One of my priorities has been rebranding and expandoimg the Vendor Cafe, now the pAVilion. Our goal has been to make the pAVilion a central hub of the AMIA conference and raise awareness of our organization by inviting the public to the pAVilion.
As point person for violations of the Code of Conduct, I am happy to report there have been no violation reports under my watch, which I attribute to my intimidating presence! ;)
My experience in growing a small business while remaining hands-on in my craft of sound restoration gives me a broad spectrum of knowledge and experience to contribute. I graduated with honors from Stanford University in 1987 focusing on computer music and composition. I founded Audio Mechanics, Inc. in 1991, specializing in sound restoration and mastering for the music industry.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
My goals as a board member will be to continue advocating for our membership by raising awareness of AMIA via the pAVilion, and to help inspire, collaborate, and grow our AMIA community through music and song. That’s right, you heard it here first! Come to the conference and don’t miss the opening day plenary!
You may have seen one of my presentations on sound restoration at AMIA during The Reel Thing, and hope that you have felt the passion and dedication I put into my work. I will continue to bring that same passion and dedication to the AMIA board.
I believe that my ability to work well with clients and manage my team of employees gives me the people skills required to work with the AMIA board and provide both insight and inspiration to the community. I consider myself a practical person and attack problems with a positive solution-seeking mindset.
Most importantly, I want to give back to AMIA for all it has given me. I owe much of my business exposure to AMIA and specifically The Reel Thing. Many colleagues and clients that I have come to know through AMIA have also become personal friends. I am grateful for all the positive influences AMIA has given me, so serving on the AMIA board will be personally rewarding to me, knowing that I am working to benefit my industry and colleagues. www.audiomechanics.com
Teague SchneiterRelevant Experience:
Since graduating from the University of Amsterdam’s Preservation & Presentation of the Moving Image program and attending my first conference in 2010, AMIA has been an essential part of both my career and community. After interning at WITNESS, my first job was working for indigenous media organization IsumaTV on grant-funded archival/technology projects. After moving to Los Angeles I began working with video oral history collections, first at the Directors Guild of America, and later in my current leadership role as Sr. Manager of Oral History Projects at the Academy of Motion Arts & Sciences. I founded and lead a new department dedicated to the preservation and recording of video (and audio) [pstlala.oscars.org/interviews]oral histories that document the unique and varied contributions of filmmakers and associated professions. I am also founder and chair of a collaborative made up of film and television organizations known as the MIC’D (Moving Image Craft Documentation) Alliance.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
My desire to be part of AMIA’s Board of Directors continues to stem from my dedication to serving the community who has served me, to help the organization align and adapt with membership’s needs while encouraging collegiality, passionate resolve, and harmony between historicity and innovation that is so uniquely us.
Over my 2 years on the Board I have encouraged us to strengthen our commitment to advocacy; we’ve taken our first step in that direction with the creation of the Advocacy Committee of the Board, recognizing it as a primary function of the association. We have made real efforts to bring more information about cultural competency and diversity, equity, inclusion to members and committees, providing plenaries and facilitated discussions at the conference, and adding the George Blood Scholarship for Women in Technology. Similarly, we are continuing to look for ways to make our events and our communications more inclusive and to better share information between colleagues and support each other’s efforts.
One of the strengths of the AMIA community is our capacity for teaching and learning. My work with AMIA’s Continuing Education Advisory Task Force is to outline a strategic way forward for us to expand knowledge and build expertise through training, as well as to define how to most effectively collaborate with other organizations.
As we continue to evolve as profession, I want to be part of AMIA’s leadership – keeping sight of the unity between us, encouraging cross-pollination, and cultivating compassion and mutual respect.
Ariel SchudsonRelevant Experience:
I have been an active AMIA member since 2010, the year of my first Reel Thing and AMIA conference and just before I applied to UCLA’s MIAS program. As the AMIA Student Chapter President at UCLA from 2011 to 2013, I established successful social networking platforms, organized the first meet-up events with other student chapters at the annual conferences and raised over $3000 for the Chapter from the monthly screening series.
As the Access Committee chair from 2012-2017, I promoted engagement on social media and awareness of Twitter-centric events such as #AskAnArchivist and #AskACurator day. This year’s analytics proved that participation in these activities greatly benefit AMIA and AMIA members’ institutions.
My podcast, Archivist’s Alley, just entered its second season. This podcast focuses solely on voices and projects in the archiving/preservation community that have historically been made invisible or silent: women, queer folk, people of color and Indigenous communities.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
Throughout my career, I have had the great joy of meeting and getting to know amazing women, men and non-binary individuals in this field and learning what we are capable of when we work together.
I have developed strong relationships with various librarian communities, SAA-centered folks, and others in like-minded organizations. I converse with them regularly and have learned much from our exchanges. I hope to bring that education with me to this position. Our world is changing rapidly and AMIA should be at the forefront of this shift as much as our sister organizations.
My primary goal as an AMIA board member would be attending to AMIA members in an honest and thorough way. I would like to create a realistic outreach plan to bring new members in and former members back by focusing on community goals, inclusion and a sense of trust. I want AMIA members to always feel like they are being listened to. I love this community and believe in it.
It goes without saying that we must represent the needs of corporate institutions as well as regional archives much like we have to talk about both digital and photochemical preservation. My goal as a board member would be to foster a larger sense of community. We all need each other.
As an archivist, academic, podcaster, journalist, film programmer, and social media manager, my network is expansive. I want to bring all of my skills to the table for the best AMIA possible.
Juana SuárezRelevant Experience:
NYU appointed me Director of its Moving Image Archiving and Preservation Program in fall 2017. I came to the position with nearly 20 years of experience teaching, advising, and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. My research in cinema studies, Latin American cinema, archives, cultural studies, and women’s and gender studies has always been oriented to facilitate exchange among national and international communities. I have worked extensively in international archival settings, primarily through my involvement with the Audiovisual Preservation Exchange (APEX) Program of NYU MIAP in Latin America. I am currently working on a collaborative digital humanities project that will enhance the flow of media archival dialogue between Latin American countries, and Latin America and the world. It will hopefully serve as a model to connect local and global communities invested in safeguarding of audiovisual heritage.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
AMIA plays a critical role in the archival community, and I would be honored to contribute to the organization and the field as a member of its Board. Diversity and inclusion are central to our mission statement, and to the goal we share with international colleagues, to develop critical, globally-informed approaches to the study, archiving, and preservation of moving images. I would contribute my enthusiasm for dynamic conversations on the evolving nature of those terms, their meaning both within the U.S. and abroad, and the societal and political events that continually shape them. My approach to diversity would impact all of AMIA’s committees by incorporating knowledge, skills, talent, expertise, and memory from participants around the world. AMIA already offers an inspiring organizational model, and it is viewed as an innovative association around the globe. We need to capitalize on that widespread interest by considering how our mission to sustain a “vibrant, dynamic and committed community” obliges us to invest in greater outreach to archivists abroad, and to communities who may feel ostracized by the field as a whole. This will involve, among other efforts, leading conversations on the intersections of gender and technology; championing open-source tools in digital preservation workflows; and developing support groups, collaboration networks, and mentorship platforms for early career archivists. With my experience working internationally and with minority communities, I am well prepared to help AMIA grow and sustain a diverse membership and ongoing engagement with the global archival community.
Randal LuckowRelevant Experience
I joined AMIA as a grad student and since then I’ve been a committee chair, Board Secretary, a presenter, an author, and a workshop leader. I’ve had the opportunity to work with great colleagues in chairing the Cataloging and Metadata, the LGBT, and the Moving Image Related Materials & Documentation Committees, in serving as board secretary, and this year joining the Conference Committee. I’ve presented papers and led workshops at the Conference, The Reel Thing and other events, have published papers on asset management, digital authenticity, and moving image taxonomy & ontology administration.
My day job is Director of HBO Archives, and in the past I have been a Digital Archivist and Sr. Director of Metadata & Media Services at Turner Broadcasting, and a Manager at DreamWorks, SKG Archives. I have a BFA in film and video production, with an MLIS specializing in archive administration (thank you University of Wisconsin!).
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
As an active member of AMIA I’ve seen a lot of changes in the organization over the years, but what has been constant is the ability to bring exceptional people together. Our members are from non-profits and for-profits, from small institutions and huge corporations, doing work in every area of AV preservation. I think that this diversity of interests and depth of experience is what makes AMIA unique. It was what spurred me to be part of AMIA’s original LGBT interest group and what motivates me now to serve on the Board.
I believe that AMIA’s best role is to provide affordable opportunities to share our collective knowledge in an inclusive and supportive atmosphere. My goal as a Board member is to continue our work in bringing colleagues together, creating new paths for participation, increasing outreach, and supporting affordable meeting opportunities, workshops, distance learning, and informative sessions, whether online, regionally, or at the annual conference.
Just as important to these goals is ensuring all members are heard. When I was appointed Secretary to the Board a few years ago, I was the first to post the Board Minutes to the AMIA website — to me, it was a way to invite the members into the conversation by showing them what the Board was talking about. The Board works on behalf of all members and I believe open, transparent communication, is key. These are the priorities I have as a member and will continue to pursue as a Board member.
Taylor McBrideRelevant Experience
In my current position as Multimedia Specialist for the Smithsonian Institution’s Digital Asset Management System, I support DAMS users and workflows with a focus on video and digital preservation as well as SI’s Collections DAMS Integration System, which bridges the DAMS with Collections Information Systems across the Institution. I am an active member of the Smithsonian’s Audiovisual Archives Interest Group, through which I’ve fostered pan-institutional collaboration and co-authored grant proposals to fund institution-wide AV surveys to aid in preservation planning.
I have been an active member of AMIA since 2010, and have served as Co-Chair of the Small Gauge and Amateur Film Committee since 2012. As co-chair, I’ve helped the committee to establish regular small gauge educational workshops at the annual conference. I currently serve on the board of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Moving Image Archive (MarMIA). I am a graduate of NYU’s MIAP program.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
If elected as a secretary of the board, I would serve the membership through transparency and communication, first by sharing minutes from the board in a timely and regular manner. I would aim to foster dialogue between the membership and the board to ensure the board is accurately representing the values and serving the needs of the membership.
I would also prioritize the advancement of the organization’s ongoing efforts to provide accessible education, both online and in-person at the annual conference. I would work to build relationships and encourage collaborations between AMIA, its committees, and other organizations that are working to provide accessible archiving and preservation information, education, and skill-shares to individuals and communities in need of this expertise.
Jayson WallRelevant Experience:
Having served as Treasurer and on the AMIA Board on and off since 2010, I have a developed a deep understanding of the many opportunities we have, the challenges we have overcome, and those we still face in AMIA. I am very mindful of the options we have explored and working to foster the ideas we are in the midst of developing. My 12 years of managerial experience at Disney has been invaluable in cementing my comprehension of budgets, revenue development, and – maybe most importantly – an ability to work with my colleagues in finding ways forward.
In a volunteer board, this ability to work productively with colleagues is critical. As Treasurer it is especially so, as I work with AMIA’s accounting firm, its investment advisors, my board colleagues in developing both annual and long range financial plans, making that information clear and accessible to the membership we all report to.
What would be your goals as a member of the AMIA Board:
My role as an AMIA board member is to the serve the mission of the organization. Our field is, by its nature, collaborative. As archivists, we rely on each other for information and in many cases as co-caretakers of our collections. That collaboration is independent of any differences in institution, in expertise, in approaches to the work. It is why AMIA was built as an organization of individuals to allow collaboration and information sharing in a way institutions could not. AMIA nurtures that collaboration and it is the core of everything we do – an event, publication, committee work, a project, education initiative, or partnership with other organizations.
While the priority is the same serving as Treasurer, the role requires serving that priority through the lens of our fiscal framework. Ensuring that the long term strategic vision of the board and membership can be supported by our revenue, that we balance our fiscal stability with the needs of the membership – whether in the development of new programs or in finding ways to include more members, and ensuring that we make informed decisions that we can report to the membership in a clear and accessible way.
Simply, my goals are to continue the work of previous boards and treasurers which have left AMIA in a good financial position, while answering the needs of a changing membership, and work with the board to develop policies that ensure AMIA will continue to provide a place for collaboration far beyond my term as Treasurer.