A southern Wisconsin organization is looking for its next executive director. WNIJ’s Yvonne Boose speaks with the last leader to find out about his next adventure.
“I got to hang out with Jon Voight, and I got to hang out with, you know, some of the other, like David Zucker, famous comic film creator from Wisconsin,” said Greg Gerard, former Beloit International Film Festival executive director, as he reflected on meeting different celebrities during his time at the festival. “Annie Potts, who was in so many, Designing Women, and a number of others.”
Ron Nief, Becky Rogers and Rod Beaudoin created the Beloit International Film Festival two decades ago. The first screenings took place in 2006. That year, 80 films were shown over a four-day period. The nonprofit festival grew into a 10-day event showcasing more than 100 films each year and has gained popularity across the nation.
Music is a big part of Gerard's life. He's a singer, songwriter, musician and many other things. His early career began with his sister.
“We sort of were the Donny and Marie [Osmond] of the Upper Midwest, or the North Central Wisconsin anyway," he said, "and then I went on to school at St. Norbert College and got a music degree there.”
Gerard and his sister wrote songs together and developed a band. He said that helped them get some publishing and record deals.
Beaudoin was Gerard’s friend from college and the music world. Gerard said when Beaudoin and friends started the festival, they needed help.
And that’s how Gerard’s journey began at BIFF. He started out in tech, then became the operations director. He went on to be the artistic director. Then in 2019, he was appointed the executive director. That's when, he said, his musical storyline slowed down.
“I've worked on songwriting and producing and things like that as well, but not as much as I used to," he said.
His life evolved from mostly creating his own stories through music to critiquing others’ people’s stories in the form of visual works. Before becoming the executive director, he spent a lot of time observing.
“Some years I watched every film,” he said. “And we would sometimes get, you know, typically we would get, you know, 400 to 500 films. One year we got 780 films submitted. Now a lot, granted, a lot of these are short films, but nevertheless, it's a lot of footage to go through.”
He said the executive director role didn’t give him time to watch as many films but there are others who were able to take on some of that work.
Gerard said he will be 69 on his next birthday and he thought would be cool to give some of the — quote -- “younger cats” a chance to work with the organization.
These days Gerard has more time to focus on music again. He’s a part of the band Nick and Friends.
“We have our group of followers that we call the Nifties,” he said, “and so, kind of like the Swifties, but the Nifties.”
He's referring to singer/songwriter Taylor Swift's fans, known as Swifties.
Gerard said he will continue to interact with some organizations in the city.
“Might go back to sub teaching in the school district, or maybe work with, possibly like The Lincoln Academy or something,” he added, “people that need somebody with my sage wisdom and wide array of talents to share with their students.”
The other thing Gerard said he will do is work with his partner Nancy Clark-Mather, the founder of Beloit FilmWorks.
“She identifies all the cool spots around the area that you might want to shoot a scene in,” he explained. “And she's got a nice web page showing all the gallery of places you can go.”
His advice to whoever becomes the new executive director is to network with other companies.
“Don't be an island,” he said. “Stay in touch with all these great resources for not just financial support, [but] great ideas, great messaging, promotions. Our downtown needs to work together as a group.”
He said he is grateful to the founders of the festival and Ken and Diane Hendricks [for their support of BIFF].
"Those are heroic people to me," Gerard said.
Gerard said he’s done everything he can do for BIFF. Although he is not in the role anymore, he said he will continue to be a part of the community’s fabric.
