National Screen Institute — Canada (NSI) CEO Joy Loewen says she’s ready “to go out on a high.”

The media industry executive announced last week that she’s stepping down in 12 months, upon completion of a strategic plan and five years into her position at the helm of the Winnipeg not-for-profit organization. The NSI provides inclusive, customized training and mentoring to creators in film, television and digital media.

She tells Playback Daily she entered the role with a list of top-10 things she wanted to get done, which ended up being addressed in the NSI’s strategic plan that comes to completion in 2024, so she feels she’ll be hanging up her hat at a good time come June 2024.

“In the role of CEO, you’re always having to, as Shonda Rhimes says, ‘lay track’ — I’m looking to plan the year ahead and I’m looking at the strategic plan coming to a close, and we need to start developing a new one and thinking, ‘This is a moment of potential transition,'” Loewen says.

“When I reflected on what I wanted to do and what has been done, I thought, ‘This is a really good time, if I wanted to take a pause, to take that pause.’ The National Screen Institute is in a really solid place, in terms of our financial organizational stability. Our mandate has never been more clear — the need for it is very present in terms of supporting underrepresented creators — and so we’ve developed a lot of high-impact programs that meet our mandate and our vision.”

Loewen first joined the NSI in 2005 as a program manager, after roles at Vision TV, WTN (now W Network) and CBC, and left in 2010 for roles including film programmer and producer at On Screen Manitoba and film programmer at the Gimli International Film Festival.

She returned to the NSI in April 2016 as manager of programs and development, and was named acting executive director at the NSI in May 2019 and as CEO in January 2020. When she leaves, she’ll have more than 12 accumulated years of service at the organization.

Among the achievements she says she’s most proud of as CEO is eliminating the deficit and stabilizing its finances through the establishment of the NSI’s first Endowment Fund to provide self-sustaining funds for the organization moving forward.

“That’s no easy feat for non-profits, especially those of us who work in the arts and cultural sector outside of Toronto, but it does speak to the commitment of industry and private donors who believe in investing in the talent that’s here in Canada and the stories that we have to tell,” says Loewen.

“When I think about the programs that we have on offer right now and the partners that we’re working with, we don’t have to do the work on our own. We’ve really reached deep and wide to work with partners.”

Loewen has increased the number of those partners — which include the Canada Media Fund, Telefilm Canada, TikTok and Storyhive — for such programs as Access BIPOC Producers (previously called the EAVE On Demand Access Program), the TikTok Accelerator for Indigenous Creators, and the Shine Network Institute’s cultural competency course PACT (Pledge – Activate – Cultivate – Thrive).

She recalls a particularly poignant moment visiting the participants of Access BIPOC Producers as they wrapped up the program last November.

“I was shaking, emotional with tears, hearing producer after producer explain how essential elements in the program not only provided them with the skills but also the network that supports community — the cohort of them coming together,” she says.

“As someone who grew up on the outskirts — I’m Black, female, grew up in a Mennonite community in the ’70s — I didn’t see Black girls around me. It was through the screen that I would see those stories of my culture and connect that way. To know that there’s now this network of producers here in Canada that’s going to tell the stories of underrepresented people so that kids don’t have to feel different — it was like, ‘This is a real career high for me.'”

Going by her philosophy that “good leadership is about successful transitions,” Loewen wanted to give ample notice for her departure so there aren’t “any unplanned surprises,” she says.

With that, the next year “looks much the same as other years in terms of making sure that we have enough revenue to cover our expenses, that staff is provided with opportunities to grow and deepen their skill sets and do work that enriches them, and that we are delivering programs in partnership with others here across the country that develop exceptional talent,” she adds.

“The next year, specifically speaking, is about delivering programs such as Access BIPOC Producers, developing some new ones and ensuring … that people know about us and fund the work.”

The NSI news release announcing Loewen’s upcoming departure did not specify what she will do when she leaves the organization, and indeed, she says she doesn’t quite know yet.

“In some respects I so wish that I did. It would put a lot of rumours to rest,” she says with a laugh. “But I’m going to be perfectly candid and open and say that this is about finishing strong for everybody’s sake. Being the CEO of the National Screen Institute has been all-consuming, especially during the last three years with COVID, the social justice movement, the economy — it’s just been a moment. Trying to turn the ship around the corner has taken a lot of focus and a lot of intention.”

She’s looking forward to researching what her next move looks like in ways she hasn’t been able to because she’s “been so singular focused,” she adds. “So I don’t have any confirmed plans, and I’m OK with that.”

Photo courtesy of the National Screen Institute