Ron Light

I’ve had a varied career developing innovative and influential programs in arts, culture, and technology—often in service to very human needs for personal and community development.

Initially a producer of documentary film and video, radio, digital media and motion picture features, I spent two years on the Ramah Navajo reservation of northwestern New Mexico where I facilitated the production of videotape and print materials resulting in renewed value in preserving the “old ways.” Decades later, at the dawn of computerized multimedia, I went on to found and direct the highly successful D*LAB program, where San Francisco urban youth learned to produce award-winning digital movies, Web sites and interactive stories reflective of their personal histories. For four years I was artistic director of the National Educational Film & Video Festival, called “one of the most creatively programmed festivals in the country." I also taught documentary film studies at San Francisco’s Film Arts Foundation and mentored graduate students on thesis projects dealing with media arts exhibition and documentary filmmaking. During the early 2000's I was director of Arts and Community Development at California Lawyers for the Arts, a state-wide non-profit, where I was responsible for training and placing welfare clients in arts industry employment.

Peppered throughout my life I’ve been a practitioner of documentary film and photography and currently am going through my archive of personal photos, video and writing looking for how to make the old new again. As evidenced by the exhibition and catalog for Pedal Culture, I also curate and develop programs of design and cultural significance.

I have a BA in anthropology from San Francisco State University, an MFA in design from California Institute of the Arts and live in San Francisco, where I play guitar, badly.