Christy LeMaster, programmer for the Nightingale Theatre and Cinema Borealis and a regular film commentator on Chicago Public Radio’s 848, has taken over as managing director of the filmmakers’ networking group IFP/Chicago..
The 23-year-old nonprofit, which recently moved its offices from Columbia College to Tribeca Flashpoint Academy, produces the Chicago Underground FIlm Festival, a spring professional development Producers Series, a Summer Production Program for high school students, and a fall Independent Film Gala, and offers an annual Production Fund grant, good for $100,000 in in-kind services and gear toward the production of a short film.
“Under the direction of new board president, Lisa Gildehaus, we hope to reshape IFP in the coming year,” LeMaster writes in the IFP/Chicago newsletter. “We also are looking to expand our smaller events. We are planning more meet-ups, more workshop screenings, and more skill-shares for the winter and spring.”
LeMaster takes over for departing executive director Ryan Jewell, who returned to his native Oklahoma City.