creative cohorts
artists, cultural organizers, and community problem-solvers
WORKSHOP Admission is free but limited to 40
RESERVE YOUR SPOT HERE
Attend all workshops at NCFF HQ
110 Union Street, Between Nourish Sushi and El Taco Loco
the COHORTS
Building Thriving Creative Communities
WITH KARIN CHIEN, ERIN WASHINGTON, GRIFF WILLIAMS, Tyler Knohl and Brynne Norquist
Saturday, June 27, NOON-2pm
NCFF Producers Retreat Director and celebrated producer and advocate Karin Chien leads a conversation with artists AND arts advocates who have spent their careers answering the question – How to Build Thriving Creative Communities?. Griff Williams – painter, filmmaker, author, and gallerist – founded San Francisco’s Gallery 16 in 1993, building one of the Bay Area’s most enduring independent creative spaces. Erin Washington, founder of SoulCenter – a design studio at the intersection of Black arts and innovation – has worked as a producer and strategist across some of America’s most vital cultural institutions, including Arena Stage, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Public Theater, and The Curran. Tyler Knohl and Brynne Norquist, co-founders of HIIKE, a new online platform connecting filmmakers and film festivals. Together, they bring decades of hard-won experience building communities across galleries, theaters, festivals, and digital platforms. This cohort is for anyone who believes that art doesn’t just happen in a room — it happens because someone built the room.
What animation teaches us
indie animators have always been at the forefront of change
Saturday, June 27, 3-5pm
Boundary-pushing filmmakers and animators Noel Wells (Master of None, Mr. Roosevelt), Ri Crawford (I’m a Virgo, Mad God, Sorry To Bother You), and Emmy-winning creative director Michaela Olsen (Under Covers, Octopus), led by animator, filmmaker, educator, and longtime NCFF friend Geoff Marslett will take part in conversation with fellow animators on what the art form reveals about flexibility, agility, and creative resilience. Animation demands that you solve problems that don’t exist yet, invent worlds from scratch, and find movement in stillness – skills that translate far beyond the screen. This cohort digs into what animators know that other creatives are still learning: how to hold a vision loosely, pivot without losing the thread, and find the unexpected solution hiding inside the impossible constraint.
First Light: Indigenous Film & Animation
WITH Joey clift, morgan thompson, quinne Larsen, vera starbard and nicolette ray
Sunday, June 28, 2-4pm
Award-winning animator and NCFF alum Joey Clift brings together four of the most exciting Native American voices working in animation today. Morgan Thompson, the first and only Native animator to win an Annie Award and is currently in production on Cartoon Saloon’s highly anticipated feature Kindred Spirits. Quinne Larsen, a boundary-pushing director and board artist, just premiered their latest short at Sundance. Vera Starbard, Emmy-nominated writer on Molly of Denali, brings her voice to one of animation’s most celebrated Indigenous series. And Nicolette Ray lends her talents to Spirit Rangers as a storyboard artist helping bring Native stories to a new generation. Together, they represent the present and future of Indigenous storytelling on screen.
**The group will first meet at ‘Uba Seo: Nisenan Arts & Culture at 225 Broad Street, Nevada City at 2pm before heading over the NCFF HQ.