Member Profile: Dawn Fidrick
1. What do you do, and how long have you been doing it?
I am a producer, manager, and speaker. I have been working in the arts since my professional career started in 1998. In the early years I stage managed in the live theatrical space at Blue Man Group, assistant directed, camera assisted, production managed on numerous film sets, music videos, and PSAs. I have produced an independent feature film, Other Madnesses and an immersive 8K, full CG planetarium show, Signs of Life. I now serve as the Production Team Manager at DNEG in Vancouver, British Columbia.
2. What was your first job?
I was 12! I worked serving hot roast beef sandwiches from a barrel at a Farmers Market in Pennsylvania.
3. Where did you complete your formal education?
MFA, School of Visual Arts, Computer Art
BFA, DePaul University, The Theatre School, Production Management
4. How did you first get involved with ACM SIGGRAPH?
Attending SIGGRAPH was suggested as preparation for graduate school by SVA MFACA. It was 2007 San Diego, CA!
5. What is your favorite memory of a SIGGRAPH conference?
My favorite memory of SIGGRAPH spans the first time to the latest conference. The summer before I began graduate school at SVA I flew to San Diego from Brooklyn, a newbie to the SIGGRAPH experience. I hardly had any idea what to expect, and so I brought a pocket-sized moleskine notebook where over the course of the week I wrote all the words, concepts and names I didn’t know or understand. That notebook was filled quickly and I recall thinking to myself, one day after I learn what all of these words mean, I am going to be on that stage! Cut to me (still learning) and a contributor to SIGGRAPH since 2021.
6. Describe a project that you would like to share with the ACM SIGGRAPH community.
The planetarium show Signs of Life playing at Griffith Observatory has been the highlight of my career as a Producer. 8K, full CG projected onto a 76 foot dome! I was fortunate enough to spend 5 years working alongside a fantastic team who, as a public private partnership, built the Satellite studio and created this show.
7. If you could have dinner with one living or non-living person, who would it be and why?
There are too many great people to choose only one. Rachel Carson, Olaus and Mardy Murie, Frédéric Back, Pema Chödrön, Leonard Cohen.
All of these people at a dinner party would blow my mind. They all have a deep inner life with genuine purpose and created meaningful works.
8. What is something most people don’t know about you?
Growing up I dreamt of one day being a game show host.
9. From which single individual have you learned the most in your life? What did they teach you?
In regards to the arts, Karen Rugerio, my high school drama teacher. A true mentor and no nonsense source of wisdom and creative spirit. She taught me the craft of theatre: storytelling, producing, performance, the value of artists and technicians alike, collaboration, and perseverance.
10. Is there someone in particular who has influenced your decision to work with ACM SIGGRAPH?
The extraordinary Kalina Borkiewicz!
11. What can you point to in your career as your proudest moment?
The collaborative team we built for Signs of Life.