PARK CITY, Utah (November 10, 2026) – The Sundance Institute today announced the appointment of Allison Graff-Weisner as its new Chief Development Officer (CDO). A leader with over twenty-five years of experience in the nonprofit, education, and cultural sectors, Graff-Weisner will lead the transformation of the Institute’s contributed revenue functions and spearhead a significant capital raising campaign associated with the organization’s upcoming transition to Boulder, Colorado.
Reporting directly to Chief Executive Officer David Linde, Graff-Weisner will serve on the executive leadership team, where she will be responsible for setting the vision and strategy to expand the Institute’s national and global donor base. She is tasked with leading a bold, multi-year strategy to exceed the Institute’s annual goal for operations, while simultaneously planning for multi-stage capital and endowment campaigns.
“Allison is exactly the kind of transformative leader the Sundance Institute needs at this pivotal moment in our history,” said Linde. “Her proven track record of scaling organizations, combined with her deep experience in the cultural and educational sectors, makes her uniquely qualified to lead our development efforts. As we prepare for our transition to Boulder and look to expand our support for independent artists globally, Allison’s ability to build values-aligned partnerships will be instrumental to our sustainable growth and future success.”
Graff-Weisner joins the Sundance Institute from Otis College of Art and Design, where she has served as Vice President of Institutional Advancement. There, she has led advancement across all areas of giving, significantly growing scholarships for a highly diverse student body and establishing strategic industry and philanthropic partnerships. Prior to Otis College, she was the Deputy Director of External Affairs at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, where she helped lay the foundation for the museum’s launch across contributed revenue, membership, special events, and corporate engagement.
As CDO, Graff-Weisner will focus on identifying new revenue opportunities and engaging historically underrepresented and emerging philanthropic communities to champion culturally relevant donor engagement practices. Her extensive background in building high-performing development functions will directly support the Sundance Institute’s core mission to champion creative expression and foster inclusive storytelling.
“I am incredibly honored to join the Sundance Institute, an organization whose commitment to artistic risk-taking and independent voices has profoundly shaped global culture,” said Allison Graff-Weisner. “Robert Redford’s founding principles of supporting artists outside traditional systems of power resonate deeply with me. I look forward to working with David, the Board of Trustees, and the incredibly talented Institute team to build an innovative fundraising model that ensures bold, original storytelling continues to thrive for generations to come.”
Earlier in her career, Graff-Weisner spent over 18 years at City Year in various executive capacities, ultimately serving as the Chief Development and Engagement Officer. During her tenure, she spearheaded private sector fundraising efforts, managing a $20 million national budget, and co-designed a $225 million campaign in support of City Year’s 30th Anniversary. She also served as the Founding Executive Director of City Year Los Angeles, growing the site to an annual budget of $12 million and raising $50 million cumulatively.
Graff-Weisner holds a Master of Public Policy from the Harvard Kennedy School, where she was awarded the John F. Kennedy Fellowship and Women’s Leadership Fellowship, and a Bachelor of Arts in American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.
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Sundance Institute
As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance Institute advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Through the Sundance Institute artist programs, we have supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don’t Cry, Boys State, Call Me by Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Dìdi (弟弟), Drunktown’s Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, Fruitvale Station, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, RBG, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola. Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of such artists as Paul Thomas Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Nia DaCosta, Ryan Coogler, The Daniels, Robert Eggers, Rick Famuyiwa, David Gordon Green, Sterlin Harjo, Marielle Heller, Miranda July, Nikyatu Jusu, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Boots Riley, A.V. Rockwell, Ira Sachs, Walter Salles, Quentin Tarantino, Erica Tremblay, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Bluesky.
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