Education  |  Selected Awards  |  Work Experience  |  Teaching Experience

Panels & Lectures  |  Committee Memberships  |  Service |  Curatorial Work

Selected Articles about Yvonne Welbon  |  Selected Articles by Yvonne Welbon

Selected Exhibition History  |  Films & Videos  |  List of Work for Hire

EDUCATION

2001
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Ph.D. awarded December 2001, Department of Radio/TV/Film

Dissertation: "Sisters in Cinema: Case Studies of Three First-Time Achievements Made by African American Women Directors in the 1990s."

1994
School of the Art Institute of Chicago

Master of Fine Arts awarded May 1994, concentration in film and video.

Thesis Film: Missing Relations

Thesis: "The Making, Marketing, Distribution and Exhibition of
Daughters of the Dust: A Case Study."

1984 - 1985
National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan

Mandarin Chinese language study

1980 - 1984 Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York

Bachelor of Arts in History awarded May 1984

WORKSHOP EDUCATION

• Writer's Guild of America- Minority Writer's Workshop, Los Angeles (2002)
• The American Film Institute, Directing Workshop for Women, Los Angeles (2001)
• Sundance Institute - Documentary Fellow, Sundance, Utah (2001)
• PBS/CPB Producer's Academy, Boston, MA (2001)
• Sundance Institute - Producing Fellow, Sundance, Utah (2000)

SELECTED AWARDS

• Illinois Arts Council - Award in Media Arts (2005)
• Chicago Artist-in-Residence Fellowship – CSRPC - University of Chicago (2003)
• 2003 Best Documentary · Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian Film Festival - Sisters in Cinema
• Dr. Beverly Robinson Renaissance Award - 5th Denver Pan African Film Festival
• Audience Award - African Diaspora Film Festival (2003) - Sisters in Cinema
• 2003 Women in Film Award - St. Louis International Film Festival
• Women in the Director's Chair ACTION! Award (2003)
• American Film Institute Grant (2001) - The Taste of Dirt
• Illinois Humanities Council Grant (2000 - 2001) Sisters in Cinema
• 2001 GLAAD Media Award - Outstanding Documentary Video · Living With Pride
• Illinois Arts Council - Finalist Award in Media Arts (2000)
• University Film and Video Association, Carole Fielding Grant (2000) Sisters in Cinema
• Ten Best Documentary Awards (1999- 2000) - Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100
• The Tzabaco/Frameline Completion Fund (1999), Living With Pride: Ruth Ellis @ 100
• The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media (1998), Living With Pride
• Astraea National Lesbian Action Foundation (1998 -9), Living With Pride
• Illinois Arts Council Fellowship (1997)
• Chicago International Film Festival, Intercom ( 1996) Silver Hugo,
  Remembering Wei Yi-fang
• The Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media (1996) Remembering Wei Yi-fang
• Chicago International Film Festival, Intercom (1995) Certificate of Merit,
  Missing Relations
• School of the Art Institute MFA Traveling Fellowship, Missing Relations (1994)
• Sidney Poitier Emerging Black Filmmaker Fellowship, Remembering (1993)
• Center for New Television/NEA-AFI Regional Fellowship, Remembering (1993)
• 17th Annual Festival of Illinois Film and Video Artists (1992), Best Documentary, Monique
  
  

WORK EXPERIENCE

1991 - Present
Producer/Owner/Consultant, Our Film Works
An Illinois corporation founded primarily to produce films which create a stronger media presence for African American women.


1997 - 1999
Segment Producer, Split Screen
John Pierson's New York based show on independent film.
Broadcast on the Independent Film Channel and Bravo.


1990 - 92
Associate Editor, The Business Word, Chicago
Telocator, the personal communications industry association publication


1985 - 90
Founder/Publisher, Bang Taipei City Magazine, Taipei, Taiwan
Developed advertising, design, distribution, editorial, and marketing & promotions to create Taipei's first English language city magazine. It began as an eight-page oversized newsprint quarterly and evolved to a 48 - 56 page color monthly. Managed all financial aspects of the company and 25 - 35 staff members and contributors.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Fall 2005 Visiting Instructor
Cinema and Media Studies - "Black Queer Media(makers)"
University of Chicago

Fall 2003 Visiting Assistant Professor
Cinema and Media Studies - "Sisters in Cinema"
University of Chicago

Seminar Leader - "Contextualizing America: Exploring Media Influences"
University of Chicago - Collegiate Scholars Program

Summer 1998 Workshop Leader, Video Storytelling
Ohio Arts Council Summer Media Institute

Spring 1997 Instructor - Film as Business
Northwestern University College; Created course and companion website

Fall 1996 Teaching Assistant - Producing
Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois

Summer 1996 Instructor, Video Production
Gallery 37 (Chicago); Taught video/website production to teens, aged 14-18.

Fall 1993 Teaching Assistant, Basic Video
The School of the Art Institute of Chicago

1991 - 92 Chinese Language Instructor
Tutored students in elementary Mandarin Chinese, Chicago

1984 - 87 ESL Instructor
Taught English to Taiwanese adults and children, Taipei, Taiwan

SELECTED PANELS AND LECTURES

2006

• Crash: A Viewing and Discussion – University of Chicago
• Visiting Artist – University of Illinois-Urbana, Northwestern University,
  Governor’s State University, Middlebury College
  

2004

• Sisters in Cinema - Television Critics Week - Los Angeles
• Fundraising and Distribution - Webster University - St. Louis
• Sistah Cinema: African Women in Filmmaking - Denver Pan African Film Fest
• Queer Filmmakers of Color - Queer Lounge - Sundance Film Festival
• Where's Her Voice? Black Women Filmmakers and Hip-Hop Culture
  Center for the Study of Race, Politics, and Culture - University of Chicago
• Brother Outsider - University of Chicago
• Visiting Artist - Temple University, University of Deleware, SUNY- Albany,
  Columbia College, Chicago, University of Rochester, Kenwood Academy, DePaul University, UCSD, Young Chicago Authors, Northwestern
  

2003

• Conformity and Resistance: Writing for Film
  National Black Writer's Conference, Brooklyn, New York
• Frameline's Close-Up: Interview with Cheryl Dunye
  Castro Theater, San Francisco
• Hindsight is 20/20: Producer's Tell How They Would Do it All Over Again
  Cleveland International Film Festival
  
• Reaching an Audience With Your Independent Film,
  Cleveland International Film Festival
• Her Stories: Issues for Women in Documentary Film,
  Columbia College Chicago
• Is There a Need For Women's Media (Anymore)?
  Women in the Director's Chair 22nd Annual International Film Festival
• African American Women in Feature Filmmaking - Pan African Film Festival
• Visiting Artist -Sarah Lawrence College, Columbia College Chicago, Cleveland State, Indiana University, Bloomington

2002

• Exercises in Leadership - IBM Gay and Lesbian Leadership Conference, NY
• Financial Foundations for Filmmakers - Women in the Director's Chair
• Getting Your Work Out Into the World - AIVF and The Video Databank
  
• "Redefining Media Images of Black Women: A Personal Journey"
  Smith College
• Women Directors of Color
  African American Women in Cinema Conference, NY
• Film Panel
  Gwendolyn Brooks Black Writer's Conference
  
• Visiting Artist
  Vassar College, Smith College, Antioch University, Ohio State University,
  York University, Northwestern University
  

2001

• "Deliverance: The Business of Distribution"
  Persistent Vision Conference, San Francisco
  
• "Climbing Out of the Girl Ghetto"
  Lake Placid Film Festival
  "Roles for Women: Indie and Beyond"
  Boston International Women's Film Festival
  
• "Producer's Forum"
  Atlanta Film & Video Festival
  
• "The State of Black Independent Cinema"
  Sundance Film Festival
• "Reel Women: A Global Body of Work"
  Purdue University, Calumet
  

2000

• "Racing the Real"
  Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Chicago
• "Writing African American Women into Film History;"
  University of Wisconsin, Madison
• "From Words Into Pictures: A Seminar on Writing the Independent Film"
  Wisconsin Film Festival, Madison
• "Celluloid History: Documentary Strategies in Films on Queer History"
  The Future of the Queer Past: A Transnational History Conference,
  The University of Chicago
• "Lesbian Filmmaking and Beyond"
  Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema
• "Representing the Race - Queer Images of Blackness"
  Black Queer Studies in the Millennium Conference, UNC - Chapel Hill
• "The Role of Film Festivals in the World of Filmmakers"
  Columbia College Chicago

1999

• "Home"
  Women in the Director's Chair Film Festival, Chicago
• "Women, Visual Media, and Cultural Production"
  Scripps College, Claremont, CA
• "A Historical Overview of Feature Film Production
  by African American Women"
  The Chicago Historical Society
  
  
  

SELECTED PANELS AND LECTURES (continued)

1998

• "Black Spectatorship" - Panel Respondent
  Society for Cinema Studies Conference, San Diego, California
• "Borders and Border Crossings: Interdisciplinary and Transnational `Dialogues and Empirical Practices" - Remembering Wei Yi-fang...
  Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island
• "Women in Shorts;" The Tillie K. Lubin Symposium
  Brandies University, Waltham, MA
• "Using the Internet for Documentary Pre-production"
  Antioch Summer Documentary Institute, Yellow Springs, Ohio
• "Documentary Development"
  Women in the Director's Chair Salon Series, Chicago

1997

• "Race and Identity in Contemporary Art & Literature"
  University of Illinois, Champaign/Urbana
• "The Future of Black Filmmaking : Producing"
  Black Harvest Film Festival, The Film Center, Chicago"
• Black Lesbian Film and Video Artists for Beginners"
  Indiana University, Bloomington
  University of California, Santa Barbara

1996

• "African American Filmmaking Today"
  Pesaro Film Festival, Pesaro, Italy
• "From Daughters of the Dust to Waiting to Exhale"
  Barat College, Lake Forest, Illinois
• "Fifteen Years of Women's Media"
  Women in the Director's Chair, Chicago
  

1995

• "Feminisms," Randolph Street Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
• Tribute to African American Cinema
  DuSable Museum of African American History, Chicago

1993

• "Sistah Action!"
  San Francisco Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival
• "The Other Queer Cinema"
  Society for Cinema Studies Conference, New Orleans, Louisiana