Russ Collins Email & Phone Number

Ann Arbor, Michigan Usa

For over 40-years, Russ Collins has served as a not-for-profit, community-based, mission-driven manager and visionary leader for two restored and actively operated historic theatre - the Michigan Theater, a 1920s-era movie palace/performing arts center, and the State Theatre, a 1940s era Art Deco, Cinema Style theater. The theaters seats over 250,000 patrons annually at a diverse array of arts events. The theaters are national renown as architectural treasures and for their large and diverse film and performing arts programs. It is the home for national touring music acts, the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra and Ann Arbor Film Festival. The Michigan Theater was named an Outstanding Historic Theater in North America by the League of Historic American Theatres. The film program was selected by the Sundance Institute as one of 12 specialty theaters for its seminal Art House Project program. The organization was the fiscal sponsor and Russ Collins was a key leader in the founding a growth of the Art House Convergence, a national professional organizations for independent, community-based, mission-driving cinemas. He also started the Cinetopia Film Festival, bringing the best films from the world's best film festival to SE Michigan, He has served on many local, national and international non-profit governing boards of historic preservation, performing arts, cinema arts, and downtown vitality service organizations. He has be recognized with several awards of excellence in aforementioned areas of service. This includes being knighted by the Republic of Italy, for promoting Italian Cinema in the USA. He will soon be retiring from professional work to serve the Ann Arbor community, and, with his wife Deb Polich, travel and spend more time with their eight grandchildren.

I teach an introductory Film Appreciation class every year and occasionally teach Arts Administration classes.

I was selected by the National Endowment for the Arts for this Fellowship in 1991. This Fellowship was taken as a paid sabbatical leave from the Michigan Theater and it allowed me to work in the Media Arts Program of the Endowment. Assisted with grant adjudication process and prepared marketing documents to promote the Media Arts Program of the NEA.