Jan Haag
| Jan Haag | |
|---|---|
Haag in 1973 speaking at USC
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| Born |
Jan Marie Smith December 6, 1933 Marysville, WA |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Writer, Poet, Artist, Filmmaker, Film and Television Director, AFI Director of National Production Programs |
| Employer | American Film Institute, Pennsylvania State University |
| Known for | Founder of the Directing Workshop for Women at AFI, poetry, needlepoint |
| Movement | Feminist |
| Website | www |
Jan Haag (born December 6, 1933) is the founder of the American Film Institute (AFI) Directing Workshop for Women and a world-famous textile artist and poet.
Jan Haag (née Smith), born in Marysville, WA, grew up in the Pacific Northwest, graduated from Seattle's Holy Names Academy, and went on to study art and painting at Burnley School for Professional Art. Haag continued her studies at the Art Institute of Chicago, Reed College in Portland, Oregon, The New School for Social Research in New York, University of Washington, Pennsylvania State University, UCLA, and Southwestern University School of Law. Haag also studied painting with Frederick E. Smith, dance with Eleanor King, and singing and tabla with Ali Akbar Khan and Swapan Chaudhuri.
In Seattle, Haag managed poetry readings, an art gallery, and the Shakespeare Workshop for ABC Bookstore. As an actress, she performed in regional theaters during the 1950s and 1960s, and directed plays in Washington, Oregon and California. Haag has exhibited her work in West Coast museums, competitions, and galleries—including the Seattle Art Museum, the Frye Museum, the Otto Seligman Gallery, and the Woessner Gallery.
In Los Angeles, Haag served as Film and Television Director for the John Tracy Clinic, where she directed a series of forty-two films, "Teaching Speech to the Profoundly Deaf," for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. In 1971 she joined the staff of the American Film Institute where, as Director of National Production Programs, she administered the nation's largest film granting program, the Independent Filmmaker Program, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. In 1974, with funding from the Rockefeller Foundation, she founded AFI's Directing Workshop for Women, a program in which accomplished women—such as Joanne Woodward, Lee Grant, Margot Kidder, Ellen Burstyn, Maya Angelou, Karen Arthur, Anne Bancroft, Dyan Cannon, Julie Phillips, Kathleen Nolan, Cicely Tyson, Brianne Murphy, Nessa Hyams, and Randa Haines could develop their directing skills. The DWW became the fountainhead back to which the careers of many women, now directing film and television, can be traced. Haag also served on the boards of many film festivals/programs, including the Bellevue Film Festival, Filmex, the Sundance Institute, and the International Women Filmmakers Symposium.
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