Who We Are
MergingArts Productions is a non-profit organization incorporated in the state of Rhode Island, US. We are working on becoming a 501(c)(3) organization.
Founders
Toni Pennacchia
Toni is the Creative Director of MergingArts. She has over 15 years of radio
experience including as a DJ and music director for genres including folk,
world, and blues. Her love of film began while working in the
audio-visual department of the library - remember libraries? She recently
received a business degree from CUNY and has worked as a technical support
specialist for the last ten years, currently supporting applications for
distance learning in higher education.
She can hula-hoop for more than five minutes at a time.
Paul Elsnau
Paul is the Managing Director of MergingArts. He has been involved since
the turn of the century in in non-commercial radio in both on-air and audio
production capacities. Before joining MergingArts, he was at various times
involved in music promotion, community theatre, and film
festival work. For the past several years, he has developed creative web based
solutions for commercial and non-profit organizations. He does not play
foosball at work.
Board of Directors
Jessica Wilson
Jessica has 20 years of professional and community theater experience as an actor, tech, designer, director and playwright. She serves on the governing Boards for several theater groups and music festivals. In addition to her full-time career in healthcare and her theater work, Jessica is a radio personality/disc jockey, artist and musician.
Rachel Thibault
Rachel is a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and is writing a dissertation on gender, cinephilia and film criticism. Her other academic interests include independent American cinema and '60s film culture.
She has been actively involved in the film festival community and has served as
a juror in festivals regionally.