Staff Overview
Staff
Lyall Bush - Executive Director
Adam Sekuler - Program Director
Liz Shepherd - Director of Children's Programming
Dave Hanagan - Studio Director
Matt Cunningham - Technical Director
Wen Marcoux - Business Manager
Ilana Holmes - House Manager
Kathryn Higgins - Membership Coordinator
Heather Ayres - Grantwriter
Lyall Bush - Executive Director
Lyall Bush is executive director of Northwest Film Forum. In his previous position as executive director of the literary arts center, Richard Hugo House, he raised the profile of the organization, re-focusing the mission on new writing and creating the Hugo Literary Series. Previously he has also directed film festivals and directed a year-long college course for adults in poverty. He has also written and published on films (and filmmakers) for over a decade. In addition to his work at Northwest Film Forum he is at work on a memoire and a collection of short stories.
Email Lyall at: lyall at nwfilmforum.org
Adam Sekuler - Program Director
Adam Sekuler comes to Northwest Film Forum with 5 years of film programming experience. Before arriving in Seattle he was programmer for the nation's first and only dedicated non-fiction theatre, The Bell Auditorium. He is co-founder of Search and Rescue, an ongoing effort to present and preserve discarded archives of 16mm films. He also programmed for the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival and Sound Unseen. In his early years he booked music for the Whole Music Club, Minneapolis' only all ages venue. During his spare time, Adam makes short films that have screened at festivals and museums. You can find him scheming about bus cabarets and penciling in words on crossword puzzles on the weekends.
Follow Adam on Twitter @NWFF
Email Adam at: adams at nwfilmforum.org
Liz Shepherd - Director of Children's Programming
Email Liz at: liz at nwfilmforum.org
Dave Hanagan - Studio Director
As the studio director, Dave Hanagan manages the education programs, filmmaking equipment facilities and artist support programs. Before moving to Seattle, he studied graphic design at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dave has made numerous short films, his most ambitious, Circadia Sees the Moon, premiered at the Seattle International Film Festival and was completed with support from 4Culture, Artist Trust, and the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs. With his filmic works, Dave has participated in artist residencies in Belfast, Northern Ireland and Skopje, Macedonia. Since 1997, he has worked as a cinematographer, gaffer, editor and producer on over 50 independent, artistic media projects including Guy Maddin's Brand Upon the Brain!, Webster Crowell's Borrowing Time, and Matt Wilkin's Buffalo Bill's Defunct.
Email Dave at: dave at nwfilmforum.org
Matt Cunningham - Technical Director
Matt Cunningham began working for the Northwest Film Forum as a projectionist at the Grand Illusion in November of 1998. Since then he has remained a steadfast figure in the Film Forum's projection booths, always striving to make sure the audience gets the best show in Seattle. Matt has been a projectionist for over thirteen years and has manned the equipment in a mind-boggling variety of booths throughout the Seattle area. As Technical Director and Manager of Cinema Rentals, Matt gets to spend quality time in the booth, as well as interact with real people! Matt smokes too much and enjoys fixing broken things.
Email Matt at: matt at nwfilmforum.org
Wen Marcoux - Business Manager
Wen Marcoux has a diverse background in the visual arts. She has been an artist and a painter for over 20 years, dabbling in graphic design, performance art, curation, set design/construction, and mural design/execution. She delved into filmmaking several years ago, co-editing a women's skateboarding documentary in Los Angeles, CA and filming one such event in New Jersey. When not crunching numbers at the Forum, she can be found working on one of several film projects and preparing for her next art exhibition.
Email Wen at: wen at nwfilmforum.org
Ilana Holmes - House Manager
Ilana Holmes graduated from New York University with a BA in History in 2005, and has since cultivated extensive experience working in arts administration in both the private sector and with nonprofit institutions. Impressed with the vibrancy and intimacy of the Seattle’s artistic community, she moved here in September of 2008. Ilana has since been an active community volunteer, working with 826 Seattle and the Museum of History and Industry.
Email Ilana at: ilana at nwfilmforum.org
Kathryn Higgins - Membership Coordinator
Bio coming soon!
Email Kathryn at: kathryn at nwfilmforum.org
Heather Ayres - Grantwriter
Heather Ayres is a writer, storyteller and singer who is passionate about nurturing independent voices of all kinds. She has a long relationship with Northwest Film Forum as a filmmaker, including making "Betty" in 2010 with the organization's support. She has been the Film Forum's grantwriter since 2009.