Team

Denise Zaccardi, Executive Director  is the founder of CTVN. She holds a Ph.D. in Communications from The Union Institute. She wrote the nation’s first dissertation on media arts curriculum for low-income, minority youth development. She earned an M.S. in Early Childhood Education from State College in Buffalo, NY, and a BA in Psychology from the University of Dayton. She has participated as a media and education activist with a variety of local and national organizations. Dr. Zaccardi has received numerous awards For her contributions to the field, including the Christian Service Award from the University of Dayton, and the Service Recognition Award for Arts Educator from the Illinois Alliance for Arts Ed.

Jen Smith, Teaching Artist at Truman Middle College, Washington Park, and has been teaching with CTVN since the fall of 2008. Jen holds a B.A. in Film and Video from Columbia College Chicago and works on various independent film projects in addition to her work with CTVN. Her interest in non-profit work stems from her experiences volunteering at community organizations throughout Chicago, from tutoring homeless children and working in soup kitchens, to helping in video classes with Youth Connection Charter Schools.  In addition to her classes at Truman, Jen teaches youth ages 9-14 in the SOAR Moviemaking program, a community partnership between CTVN and the Department of Child and Family Services, state of Illinois.

Daniel Westcott, Administration & Equipment Wrangler hails from Tennessee.He has a background in community farming and retail management. He came to Chicago in order to finish his undergraduate degrees in Biology and Secondary education. He enjoys music, science fiction, and the summer.

Mario Contreras, Teaching Artist at West Town Academy and Shurz High School (Chicago Public School), has been teaching with CTVN since the summer of 2009. Mario began working in non-fiction while completing his bachelor’s degree in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University, completing his thesis film, Shabuya: A Freedom Ride Film, which screened at the Chicago Latino Film Festival in 2005. Mario is currently a thesis-level MFA Candidate at Columbia College Chicago’s Film and Video Department where, in addition to his work with Community Television Network, he teaches film and video classes. Mario is especially drawn to areas that relate to his experiences growing up as a Chicano in the suburbs of Chicago.

Vedran Residbegovic, Teaching Artist at CCA Academy and After School at CTVN, is an independent filmmaker, a new media artist, and a media educator, working both in the US and in his native Bosnia-Herzegovina. At CTVN, Vedran teaches video production classes,, coordinates CTVN’s summer internship program, and serves as the webmaster for CTVN’s website. Vedran holds a dual Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in film production and graphic design from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and is currently completing his Master of Fine Arts degree in film production at Temple University in Philadelphia. Prior to joining CTVN’s team, Vedran taught film and video production at Columbia College Chicago and at Temple University.

Mel Gonzalez, Teaching Artist Ada S. Mckinley Academy, has been teaching with CTVN since the fall of 2009.  Mel holds a B.A. in Music and Sociology from the University of Chicago. His films have been screened at various festivals including the Chicago Underground Film Festival and the Dartmouth Independent Film Festival. He founded Art in Action, an annual festival on the Chicago’s south side that brings together art, activism and community. Mel is also a composer and member of various music ensembles, and is regularly found performing at venues around the city. Recently, Mel began working with Teachers for Social Justice, a group advocating critical pedagogy, artistic practice and community activism.

Joe Riina-Ferrie, teaching Artist at the Academy of Scholastic Achievement (ASA), has been teaching with CTVN since the fall of 2009. Joe holds a B.A. in English and Philosophy from the University of Chicago. Joe was honored and challenged when, in his first week teaching at ASA, the school asked him to teach not one, but five video classes. While in college, he was co-chair of the University of Chicago filmmaking club, Fire Escape Films, and volunteered teaching video classes at the Community Film Workshop in Harris Park. In addition to his work with CTVN, Joe is co-founder of the Exploring Chicago Club, through which he and another teacher take students to places in Chicago that are unfamiliar to them. Recently he also obtained funding for and helped to install a school community garden in a vacant lot near the school.

Aaron Maier, Teaching Artist at Winnie Mandela Alternative High School and at Bowen High School (Chicago Public School), has been teaching with CTVN since the spring of 2011. Aaron began his training as a digital filmmaker with Media Bridges, a community-based media education center in Cincinnati, Ohio, and continued his education as a filmmaker with an apprenticeship as documentary video editor with Bulletproof Film, a Chicago-based independent documentary production house. Aaron graduated with a BA in history from the University of Cincinnati in 2001, and worked as an arts and film critic for the alternative weekly, Cincinnati Citybeat. He is a digital filmmaker and founding member of the psychedelic found footage comedy art collective, Everything Is Terrible! – archiving, editing and publishing rare vhs tapes. Since its founding in 2007, Everything Is Terrible! has grown a substantial online following through daily posts of experimental comedic videos comprised entirely of found material. Their work has been discussed on NPR’s Weekend Edition, The Onion AV Club, Huffington Post, and Toronto’s National Post. The collective independently produced and distributed their first feature film, Everything Is Terrible!: The Movie in 2009. A second feature, 2 Everything 2 Terrible 2: Tokyo Drift, followed in 2010, with an accompanying 60-date tour of independent movie theaters art spaces throughout the US and Canada.

Philister Sidigu, Teaching Artist at Howard Leadership Academy is a writer and director with an MFA in Writing for the Screen and Stage from Northwestern University. She received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Film and Video from Columbia College Chicago having previously studied at Antioch College in Yellow Springs. In May 2011 her play Suicide received a reading at Goodman Theatre.  In addition Philister’s play Lost was produced as part of Regina Taylor’s State(s) of America series. She has also worked as a Production Assistant for the released documentary A Lion in the House, and directed various marketing videos for non-profits worldwide. Her poem Mama Africa was published in the 2009 publication of Northwestern University’s African American literary magazine Voice and Vision, and she previously wrote the personal blog Social Consumer. She interned at Kartemquin Films the summer of 2010, and has taught Foundations of Screenwriting at Northwestern University. She is currently developing the website Gleaps, a social network site promoting green initiatives and businesses.

Lucia Palmarini, Hard Cover Coordinator, is a media educator, organizer, and photographer. Lucia holds a BA in Documentary studies from the College of Santa Fe. It was in Santa Fe that she first began teaching community-based media arts seminars, beginning at the Boys and girls Club of Santa Fe, and continuing in her hometown of Cincinnati after college, where she worked at city and community nonprofits, developing an interest in Youth Development in the Arts. She went on to complete Americorps’ Public Allies program, to begin a neighborhood photography program at Cincinnati’s Peaslee Neighborhood Center, and to co-found the community bike shop, MoBo Bicycle Co-op. Lucia is currently working toward completion of a Masters of Arts Management at Columbia College Chicago.