Richard Herskowitz

Richard Herskowitz is a media arts curator and administrator who, for the past 40 years, has presented thousands of screenings and art exhibitions for leading film festivals, film societies, and museums.

Herskowitz has served in various artistic and executive management roles since 2015 for the Ashland Independent Film Festival, including a four-year stint as Artistic and Executive Director. He was Artistic Director of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival from its inception in 2008 through its 10th anniversary in 2018, and director of the Virginia Film Festival in Charlottesville from 1994 to 2008. Herskowitz ran Cornell Cinema, where he presented over 500 films annually from 1982 to ’94, and also served as film and video curator at Cornell’s Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art. Herskowitz was the curator of media arts for the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in Eugene from 2009 to ’19, and he also co-curated an annual media arts exhibition at Ashland’s Schneider Museum of Art from 2016 to ’22. Herskowitz has been a programmer multiple times and president of the Robert Flaherty Film Seminar and chair of its 50th Anniversary Committee.