About Us

Director

WHO WE ARE

We are filmmakers that identified a need and set out to close the gap by creating immersive high quality programming that connected and developed the local creative talent in the South Florida community. 

"Only in their dreams can man be free, thus always thus and always thus will be". - John Keating

Chairman of the Board of Directors

Why Do We Do It?

We want to help South Florida Filmmakers tell their stories and create high quality local content with global reach. Film School can be very expensive and does not teach you everything you need to know to have a long term sustainable career in the industry. Film has the power to change lives and minds. It is important to create a space for diverse storytelling reflecting of our multicultural environment. It's important to find your creative tribe. Once you do you will continue to create content because you have the support of a community behind you. This is the goal of the organization, to create a thriving sustainable local film industry in South Florida. 

In February 2017 Dana DellaCamera received the CIP grant as an individual artist and facilitated a workshop on Screenwriting which was attended by 30 people. This was her proof of concept showing that there was a need for filmmaking workshops in Fort Lauderdale. Driven to make a positive impact in the community, Dana had the idea to continue to offer filmmaking workshops and offer higher quality programs than the ones she had participated in locally. In March, Dana met award-winning filmmaker and NYU Film School graduate Franco Barbeite who encouraged her to move forward in creating a non-profit organization to support the film community in Fort Lauderdale. The two joined forces. Franco serves as a Board Member and Instructor for the organization. In May 2018, the Arts Accelerator offered their first workshop, the Filmmaking Masterclass on August 24th & 25th, 2018 which was attended by 10 students. Two short films were created over the 2-day intensive workshop by those students in 48 hours with mentorship from award-winning filmmakers (1 mentor per team).  Some of the participants had never made a film before. After the success of the first event Arts Accelerator Inc. registered with the State of Florida and received their 501c3 status on Oct. 31, 2018. Since then the Arts Accelerator has offered 9 filmmaking professional development workshops and networking events called “Creatives in Film” that have been attended by over 300 creatives to connect the community to foster more teamwork thereby creating more finished projects representing South Florida filmmakers.