More: The Blue Note offers 'Live Music 101' for college students "All of these people are incredible, and this is an organization that attracts people who are going to commit themselves."Īs she prepares to depart, these newer employees will take responsibility and truly come alongside Banks and Liberman, she believes. "I'm not worried about this organization at all," Cosgray said. "We’ve evolved a lot even in just those two years," Cosgray said.Įnfolding new directors over specific areas of the organization, Liberman sees an increased capacity to mingle the leaders' breadth of knowledge with the new ideas and energy these co-laborers bring. "I don’t think we know exactly what’s next, but we know that we have to keep being agile," Liberman said.īut strides toward sustainability also make this a time of promise and potential. Leaders stressed the need to gauge where audiences are, and adjust to their comfort level. Progressing beyond the past two pandemic years, so much remains unknown at RFS. We "hold up mirrors" to each other, she said. Intimate knowledge of one another allowed their three-headed model to succeed, Liberman said, but also produced more self-knowledge and growth. They prized "emotional intelligence," Banks said, reviewing disagreements after the fact and allowing each other to be themselves without judgment. With distinct specialties, the trio played to their strengths but also cleared room to question and acknowledge their biases, Liberman added. This year, they collectively worked to remember what it was like to mount True/False downtown, she added.Įrasing as many power dynamics as possible, and establishing equal titles and pay from Day One not only leveled the top of the org chart but brought professional freedom, Banks said. Out of necessity and desire to experience something human, RFS rebuilt a fresh, outdoor version of the festival in 2021, Liberman said. The weight of a pandemic exerted pressure on the organization, but the shared leadership structure held up.Īfter True/False 2020, the last significant cultural event in Columbia to happen in-person, the organization met the mother of invention on her own terms. "The word (custodian) may have humble connotations for some, but that is the point - that the leadership team is there to nurture something bigger than themselves and that the custodial duty is essential," an announcement of their roles said at the time. ![]() Whereas Wilson and Sturtz branded themselves co-conspirators, Banks, Cosgray and Liberman took the title of co-custodians. ![]() With a combined 30 years' experience within RFS, the trio sought to honor the organization's entrepreneurial spirit while pursuing true sustainability. Jeremy Brown, the first executive director to lead a fully unified Ragtag Film Society, had also stepped away. After leaving a singular stamp, True/False creators David Wilson and Paul Sturtz relinquished their roles. The organization was pivoting from its "founder years," Liberman said. With hindsight's benefit, they acknowledge how this egalitarian model proved its worth in ways they couldn't predict in 2020. Now, she said quite naturally, it's "time for me to try something else." Three isn't a crowdīanks, Cosgray and Liberman assumed leadership of RFS a little more than two years ago. But she's lent her name and wisdom to a number of offices during her tenure: working as the festival's True/Life fund coordinator, a lead artist, and shepherd for various art installation, production and operations teams. Later this month, she will leave Ragtag Film Society, which encompasses both the festival and cinema, after 14 years.Ĭosgray steps down as one of RFS' three co-custodians, guiding the organization alongside Barbie Banks and Arin Liberman. So as Cosgray identifies the need for a personal and professional change, it's easy to trust she's seeing clearly. Turns out, the screen was indeed about 1/4 inch off, she said. With the hint of a laugh, Cosgray herself recalled preparing the festival's Picturehouse venue one year, and noticing that one in a series of surrounding screens that displays community portraits seemed lower than the rest. Camellia Cosgray is known for her trustworthy eye.Ĭosgray's aesthetic vision, applied on behalf of the True/False Film Fest and Ragtag Cinema, is heralded by her closest co-workers.
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