Out On Screen (OOS) is seeking someone to fill its executive director role, which comes with a salary in the $100,000 range, current executive director Brandon Yan told BIV this afternoon.
Yan, who has been with the organization since 2015, was promoted to be executive director in mid-2020. He said that he believed that it was time for him to move on. His last day will be March 27 and he does not know what job he will do next.
Out On Screen is known for its August Vancouver Queer Film Festival but it bills itself for being a "leading organization dedicated to 2SLGBTQIA+ media arts and education." The organization's plan is to shift its film festival to September starting this year, Yan said.
He said that the 2023 Vancouver Queer Film Festival was the largest in 10 years, with 12,368 attendees watching 92 films from 27 countries. Pre-pandemic, attendance was in the 9,000-10,000 range, he added.
The festival last year drew 50 visiting artists, 24 local and international performers, and included 22 post-screening question-and-answer sessions.
"We hope to replicate last year's success, Yan said.
The organization's Out In Schools program last year reached nearly 13,000 youth who attended 123 presentations, according to OOS data. The initiative included three "rural" tours, Yan said: to Vernon, the Sea-to-Sky region and Prince George.
That program involves OOS staff going to schools with short films to show students in grades five and up.
"The goal I gave the board was that I wanted to get the organization through COVID, however long that took," Yan said. "The success of last year's festival, and also with the reintroduction of Out In Schools, it felt like a good capstone for me."
The next executive director would oversee nine full-time staff, Yan said.
OOS' board is contracting a recruiting firm to search for a new leader.
