Laura Coxson / Institute Programs Coordinator
laura@mayslesfilms.com

Laura Coxson is the Program Coordinator for Maysles Institute. After graduating from Bard College she lived in Scotland for a year working at the Fruitmarket Gallery. Living in Philadelphia for three years she wrote forThe Independent, hosted salons in her apartment and organized a monthly music forum. She is excited about the Institute's recent move to Harlem.

Sam Seidel / Youth Programs Advisor
sam@mayslesfilms.com

Sam Seidel is currently working with community-based organizations, as well as Maysles staff, board and family to collaboratively develop the Maysles Institute’s youth program. Sam has worked in education/ youth development in a variety of settings over the past decade, with a focus on young people affected by incarceration. Having been the Youth Program Director of Providence arts organization, AS220 Broad Street Studio, Sam now serves on their board, works with a national network of alternative high schools and consults for youth organizations.

Philip Maysles / Youth Programs Director
philip@mayslesfilms.com

Philip Maysles (second-year resident) earned his MFA at the California Institute of Art (CalArts) in 2005 and his BA with honors from Brown University in 2002. He has taught documentary film at Arms Reach, New York City and graffiti arts at ¡City Arts!, Providence, RI. His work has been exhibited at the LA Design Center, Los Angeles; the Armory Northwest, Pasadena, CA; Mint Gallery, CalArts, Valenica, CA; and Project Space at 583 Cypress, Los Angeles. Philip is a recipient of an Inner City Arts Council Purchase Prize, (Milwaukee, WI) and the Marie Helen Hicks Prize from Bell Gallery, Brown University (Providence, RI). He has contributed to Small Axe: A Journal of Caribbean Thought, Indiana University Press.

Nelson Walker / Kham Project
ncw2005@columbia.edu

Nelson Walker began his career writing documentaries for Discovery Channel, History Channel, and PBS’ NOVA. His directorial debut, iThemba (Hope) premiered on Sundance Channel in February 2005. Nelson is a documentarian for the Tibetan Himalayan Digital Library and has served as a visiting film instructor at Tibet University in Lhasa. He is in the process of completing his second film, Lumo, which chronicles the experiences of a young Congolese woman as she recovers from a rape-inflicted fistula. In 2007, Nelson will receive an MFA in Directing from Columbia University Film School.