Share Your Voice Foundation Welcomes Award-Winning Film Director for Summer Empowerment through Performance Workshop!
The Share Your Voice Foundation welcomes award-winning film director and producer Deborah Read as a guest educator in their upcoming creative leadership workshop.
Originally from Australia, Read resides in Los Angeles, where she has launched a flourishing film career. Read has worked on the Academy Awards as an associate director since 2001. She has been part of three Emmy Award winning teams for the 2004, 2006 and 2008 Academy Awards broadcasts. Her extensive background in broadcasting includes such prime-time events as The Emmys, The Super Bowl Half-Times, The Kennedy Center Honors, The American Music Awards, The MTV Video Music Awards, The American Film Institute Tribute Shows, and the two-time Image Award winning An Evening of Stars Tributes.
Read first learned about the Share Your Voice Foundation, an organization that believes in the transformative power of the arts, after working on a 2013 episode of The Bachelor that was filmed in Whitefish. She has since joined the board of the nonprofit and will be leading a filmmaking session during the Empowerment through Performance workshop, a week-long creative leadership program for local teens to be held July 21-26.
“The Empowerment through Performance workshop is designed to build confidence and communication skills through arts-based curriculum,” explained program director and co-founder Jennifer Johnson-Bell. “This will be an incredible opportunity for our participants to learn from and be mentored by one of the best in the field.”
Read brings to students a vast wealth of experience in film production, creative direction, technical expertise and screen writing. She is a member of the Directors Guild of America, and in 2006 was selected as one of eight women for the prestigious American Film Institute’s Directing Workshop for Women (DWW). The One, which she directed and co-wrote, was her first film. In 2006 she also made her live directorial debut, which was literally out of this world. She helmed the AOL-NASA ‘Space Day Live’ broadcast, linking Earth with the International Space Station.
Read will be sharing with participants her experience and love for the arts, as well as helping them create their own Public Service Announcement as part of the workshop. This is also an area in which Read has been recognized. In 2011 she won an Emmy for Outstanding Direction for a PSA for the nonprofit group Toy Loan.
Read’s trip to Montana was made possible by sponsorship funds from the Montana Film Office. A division of the Montana Department of Commerce, the Montana Film Office works with in and out of state production groups to enrich Montana’s growing film and media communities. “Bringing Ms. Read to Montana to share her experiences is a great opportunity for our office and Share Your Voice,” said Deny Staggs, Montana Film Commissioner. “We’re proud to be able to offer assistance to opportunities like these across Montana.”