2017-2019: Simone Pero, Board President
- In June 2019, NYWIFT presents its first-ever NYWIFT Summit on Inclusion, Equality and Safety at the Ford Foundation Center for Social Justice. The summit features speakers from government, non-profits, advocacy groups, the press, production companies and more, in a series of targeted discussions focused on the state of the industry and actionable change.
- The 20th Anniversary 2019 Designing Women Awards are presented to makeup artist Riccie Johnson, hair stylist Shunika Terry, and costume designer Michele Clapton. The Variety Ensemble Award is presented to the team from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. The awards take place at the Directors Guild of America Theater for the first time, and feature costumes from both Maisel and the smash-hit series Game of Thrones.
- The 2018 Muse Awards are presented to: actors Ellen Burstyn and Sarah Jessica Parker, and Netflix VP of Original Comedy and Documentary Programming Lisa Nishimura. The Nancy Malone Directing Award is presented to Tricia Brock, and comedian and activist Maysoon Zayid receives the Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award. The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Julie Menin presents the new MOME Made in NY Award to outgoing NYWIFT Executive Director Terry Lawler.
- NYWIFT announces the appointment of new Executive Director Cynthia López, whose tenure begins January 1, 2019.
- Executive Director Terry Lawler receives the Industry Advocate for Women Award from the Hamptons International Film Festival. The award is presented by HIFF ED Anne Chaisson at NYWIFT’s annual Sunday Brunch at the Hamptons.
- Nicole Kidman lends her support to The Writers Lab 2018, in addition to returning funder Meryl Streep.
- NYWIFT caps off it’s 40th anniversary year with a special gallery exhibit of photographers of NYWIFT members on the job titled, appropriately, “Women Calling the Shots” at White Box gallery.
- The NYWIFT Women’s Film Preservation Fund (WFPF) brings a series of six programs of Second Wave Feminist films, mostly WFPF preservations, to screen at the Barbican Centre, London, in June 2018.
- Executive Director Terry Lawler announces that she will end her 21-year tenure at the helm of the organization at the end of 2018.
- NYWIFT membership reaches an all-time high of 2,400.
- 2018 Designing Women Awards are presented to makeup artist Martha Melendez, hair stylist Anita Lausevic, and costume designer Dana Covarrubias. The Variety Ensemble Award is presented to the hair, makeup and costume design team from the Amazon series Mozart in the Jungle.
- The Women Filmmakers: Immigrant Stories series returns to Queens, supported by City Council Member Robert Holden, and expands to include programming in Staten Island thanks to added support from Council Member Joe Borelli.
- NYWIFT assists USA Today in gathering research from Women in Film chapters across the United States for a groundbreaking study on sexual harassment in the entertainment industry, which is released on
- The 2017 Muse Awards are presented to: actors Laura Dern and Judith Light, and Refinery29 Chief Content Officer Amy Emmerich. The inaugural Nancy Malone Directing Award is presented to Julie Dash, and Regina K. Scully, Founder and CEO of the Artemis Rising Foundation, received the Loreen Arbus Changemaker Award. The Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Commissioner Julie Menin presents the new MOME Made in NY Award to actor and producer Alysia Reiner, and keynote remarks are given by Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul.
- In the wake of the groundbreaking Harvey Weinstein allegations and start of the #MeToo movement, NYWIFT President Simone Pero is invited to testify before the NYC Human Rights Commission on December 6, 2017 about sexual harassment in the entertainment industry. It is the commission’s first public hearing on sexual harassment in in over 40 years.
- Executive Director Terry Lawler is honored with the Women in Arts & Media Coalition’s VintAge Award.
- NYWIFT receives a bequest of $340,000 from The Nancy Malone Living Trust and with it, re-names the Nancy Malone Intern/Mentor program and establishes the Nancy Malone Directing Award at the Muse Awards.
PUBLISHED BY
Katie Chambers
