Expat comes home to helm screen academy
After almost two decades of living in the United States and rising to eminence at New York’s Tribeca Film Institute, Beth Janson is coming home to lead the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television.
Janson — who takes over from Helga Stephenson as CEO on June 1 — belongs to a rare breed that appeals to arts organizations on this side of the border. She’s a Canadian citizen who has had invaluable training and experience in the U.S., especially as executive director of the Tribeca Film Institute.
“I was hiding in plain sight,” she told me half-jokingly, speaking from her home office in Maplewood, N.J., just outside Manhattan.
Born in Montreal, Janson moved to New York after graduating from York University in Toronto.
“I had a green card at first,” she explains. “Now, I’m a dual citizen. I married an American. I had kids.”
Within the film industry, Janson is revered for what she brought to Tribeca. Its festival was born out of outrage and determination after the destruction of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Creating a film festival was a way of replacing grief with culture while helping Lower Manhattan spring back to life and prosper.
At the time, Janson had been living a block away from the trade centre. Just weeks after Sept. 11, she married Bill Ohlson, who works in financial technology. Now he will move to Toronto along with Janson and their three daughters.
Back then, she was determined not to be intimidated into leaving New York.
“I was the one who said, ‘I’m not leaving this city. Nothing is going to scare me away.’ ”
Before joining Tribeca, Janson had jobs at the Public Theater (working on the renovation of the Delacorte Theater and handling free tickets for Shakespeare in the Park); at the documentary wing of HBO; and as programming director of the Newport Beach Film Festival.
She joined the Tribeca festival in 2003 and created its signature programs, including the New Media Fund (a $5-million partnership with the Ford Foundation); Tribeca All Access (a networking and grant program for minority filmmakers) and the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund.
From 2010 through 2014, Janson was executive director of the Tribeca Film Institute, the festival’s nonprofit affiliate organization. In that capacity, she was responsible for budget management, fundraising, public relations, human resources and program direction. With aggressive fundraising, she doubled Tribeca’s budget.
In 2015, Janson left Tribeca to become founding director of the Rent the Runway foundation, creat- ed to give women the tools, training and networks to become entrepreneurs and build successful companies.
But now she’s excited about returning to the country where she grew up.
She has a three-year contract with the academy. And she will soon be looking for a house to rent.
Martin Katz, chair of the academy’s board, says: “It is particularly gratifying to us to be reversing the ‘brain drain’ to the U.S. and bringing her home as our new CEO.”
“Storytelling is important to me,” Janson told me, “and Canada is a place where I feel a connection. I have three children. Canada is an amazing place and I want them to experience the spirit of Canada.”
That’s partly because despite cuts and other problems we might complain about, the arts are alive in Canada.
“That’s a direction we want the world to go in,” says Janson, especially at a time when many other countries have abandoned the arts.
“Canada is home to some of the most creative and authentic film and television talent in the world,” she claims. “We are also true leaders in the field of interactive media, where story meets technology.”
She has already had a look at the academy’s finances.
“I’m in awe of what Helga has done over the last five years,” Janson says, referring to the way Stephenson blended the Genie (movie) awards with the Geminis (TV) to create the Canadian Screen Awards.
“Helga has turned the organization around and made it very relevant. I want to build on some of the things she was working on, engage more Canadians and get people to see more Canadian films.”
And before she knows it, Janson will be setting the stage for the 2017 edition of Canadian Screen Week. It will run from March 6 to 12, capped by the CBC’s live telecast of the gala on Sunday, March 12, 2017.
Barry Avrich, producer of the smooth 2016 broadcast gala, says, “Helga laid the foundation for the future and Beth will undoubtedly build on the strong momentum for our industry.” mknelman@thestar.ca