By By Mel Cowan

During a packed-house gala at the Skirball Cultural Center, the Hollywood Post Alliance [HPA] conferred the inaugural Charles S. Swartz Award on Dean Elizabeth M. Daley in recognition of her extensive work in cinematic education and support of emergent technology.

The award, bestowed at the HPA ceremony on November 6, is named for Swartz, who led the Entertainment Technology Center [ETC] from 2002 to 2006. In addition to a successful career as a producer and consultant, Swartz, who passed away in 2007, oversaw the process of building the ETC into the industry’s premier testing site for innovative digital cinema technologies.

Charles S. Swartz

Swartz also served on the Board of Directors for the HPA, whose mission is to provide expertise and infrastructure support for the post-production industry across the media spectrum, with a focus on developmental technologies and the changing economic climate.

Announcing Daley as the recipient of the award, HPA President Leon Silverman credited her with a unique understanding of the changes that both the business and the art form of cinema are undergoing. “She has made important contributions to our industry in helping to prepare the filmmakers of the future for their careers in an era of significant creative and technological possibilities,” said Silverman. “Her prescient view, executed in an advanced curriculum, is producing some of the industry’s most important creative and artistic innovators. Through her work and ideas she is helping to set the stage for the industry of the future.”

Unable to attend the ceremony due to an official trip to Beijing, Daley offered her thanks via video, lauding both Swartz and the HPA for their positive impact on the industry and the cinematic art form. “From your advocacy initiatives to your community outreach efforts, the HPA has been a true leader in culturing creative collaboration. The time and dedication that each of you puts forth into such collaborations is inspiring,” said Daley. “I also think your efforts are something else, an enduring tribute to Charles’ spirit.”

Daley’s acceptance speech was introduced by USC writing professor Howard Rodman, who hailed Swartz’s leadership at the ETC. “I don't know of anyone who had more dedication than Charles to make sure that as technology marched into the future, we really got it right,” said Rodman. “Working with technology was always in service of a deeper and larger concern: how we could change the world with the stories that technology lets us tell.”