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Storytelling for Impact – SWF 2012

Speakers

  • Senior Vice President and Publisher, HarperCollins Publishers
    SVP/Publisher
  • Science Correspondent, National Public Radio
    Christopher Joyce’s stories can be heard on all of NPR's news programs, including NPR's Morning Edition and Weekend Edition. He came to NPR in 1993 as part-time editor while finishing a book about tropical rainforests, and worked on NPR's national desk. Christopher has written two non-fiction books on scientific topics: Witnesses from the Grave: The Stories Bones Tell (with Co-Author Eric Stover) and Earthly Goods: Medicine-Hunting in the Rainforest. He won the 2001 American Association for the Advancement of Science excellence in journalism award.
  • Executive Director, The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture
    Wendy’s creative work takes place at the intersection of storytelling, innovation and social justice. As the Executive Director of The Alliance for Media Arts + Culture, she is focused on facilitating collaboration, innovation, leadership and cultural impact in the media arts field, leading new national and international programs like HatchLabs, Arts2Work and The Innovation Studio. Arts2Work launched in January 2018 with the very first federally-registered National Apprenticeship Program in media arts and creative technologies, a new initiative representing the hope for the future of creative work in the US, and a pathway out of poverty for a new generation of diverse artists and storytellers. Previously, Wendy was a Senior Consultant at Sundance Institute, helping develop the Sundance/Skoll Stories of Change Program and the New Frontier Story Lab. Wendy also directed the MacArthur Foundation-funded Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, the first public media Innovation Lab in the US. She began her career in film as the Festival Director for the Film Arts Festival for Independent Cinema at Film Arts Foundation in San Francisco. Wendy is the recipient of the Princess Grace Statue Award for distinguished contribution to the media arts field.
  • Founding Director, International Resource for Impact and Storytelling
    Cara Mertes champions cinematic artists as leaders in society. Harnessing the power of cultural expression to support communities, policies and priorities rooted in dignity and justice, she is currently founder of the International Resource for Impact and Storytelling (IRIS), a new donor collaborative working internationally at the intersection of civic innovation, creative storytelling and narrative strategies. As Director at Ford Foundation (JustFilms), Sundance Institute (DFP) and as EP of P.O.V. on PBS, Mertes oversaw funding for hundreds of documentaries and envisioned a global network of independent film hubs. At Sundance, she co-created Stories of Change (Skoll Foundation) and co-founded Good Pitch (DocSociety). At POV, she received Emmy, duPont Columbia 's and a Webby Award for her original web series, POV’s Borders. Awarded Doc NYC Career, Doc Mogul and IDA Pioneer Award among others, degrees are from Vassar College, Hunter College and Harvard Business School’s OPM.