MUMBAi: The Film Independent Board has announced the appointment of senior director Sean Mc Manus and director of artist development Josh Welsh as its co-presidents.

In their new positions, Mc Manus and Welsh will work together to lead the organization and run its year-round programs that nurture independent filmmakers and expand the audience in which their work can be appreciated.

They succeed executive director Dawn Hudson, who left the organisation in June to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences as CEO.
 
Sean Mc Manus has nearly 20 years of experience building organizations that have come to make a meaningful impact in both the domestic and international film and non-profit worlds.
 
He joined Film Independent in 1998 as Development Director and was promoted to Senior Director in 2006, overseeing 36 full-time staff members and more than 100 contract employees including management and administration, fund development, marketing and communications, technology, the Film Independent Spirit Awards, Los Angeles Film Festival and the Film Independent at LACMA Film Series.
 
For the last ten years, Josh Welsh has been responsible for the overall design, strategic planning and implementation of all of Film Independent’s Artist Development programs that include the Filmmaker Labs for Directors, Screenwriters, Producers and Documentarians, Fast Track, and the Grants Program and four years administering Film Independent’s signature diversity program, Project Involve.