BARB NEIS is the founder of the festival and principal investigator of the CURRA. She is a University Research Professor and Sociologist at Memorial University. She has been researching fisheries issues for 35 years and much of that research has focused on the Newfoundland and Labrador fisheries. She generally works in interdisciplinary teams on projects identified in collaboration with people and organizations based in coastal communities.

CHRIS BROOKES (online curator) is an author, storyteller and independent radio producer who has crafted audio documentaries professionally for three decades. His documentaries range from current-affairs to features to music documentaries to ars acoustica to commercially-released documentary CDs. They have won over forty international awards including the Peabody Award and the Prix Italia, and have been broadcast around the world. He has been named an international Audio Luminary by the 3rd Coast International Audio Festival, is inducted to the Nfld & Labrador Arts Hall of Fame, holds an honorary doctorate from Memorial University of Newfoundland, and is a recipient of the Order of Canada. Brookes currently directs the St. John's-based production company:

RUTH LAWRENCE (festival coordinator) is the former Executive Director of the Nickel Independent Film Festival. Her award-winning work as an actor, writer and filmmaker has taken her to Ireland, France, the US, and across Canada. As co-Artistic Director of White Rooster Theatre, she produced and performed in the Canadian tour of MonaRita, a comedy named Outstanding Ensemble of Fringe Toronto 2011 by NOW Magazine. Ruth won the 2011 Joan Orenstein Best Actress Award at the Atlantic Film Festival and the 2011 RBC Michelle Jackson Award for Emerging Filmmaker to produce her most recent short, Two Square Feet. She was recently named Artist of the Year for 2011 by the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council.

JANET OLIVER is Administrative Officer with the CURRA. She has been working at Memorial University for over 30 years, initially with the former Extension Services and ‘Decks Awash’ Magazine and later with the Institute of Social and Economic Research (ISER). For the past 15 years she has been working part-time on large, grant funded research projects such as the ‘Eco-Research Project’, the ‘Coasts Under Stress Project,’ and now the CURRA.

BAPTISTE NEIS is a media producer currently based in Stratford, ON. She is a graduate of Concordia University's Drama for Human Development BFA program who came to film and television through her theatre experience as a performer and technician. She has also worked as a director, coordinator, assistant director and production manager. Baptiste is a past president of the Nickel Independent Film Festival's board of directors.

BEN JACKSON is Web Developer for the Festival as well as the CURRA. He has worked as a web and graphic designer since 2005 for a variety of university, media, and arts initiatives. As Research Assistant with SafetyNet he worked on the Safe Wharves Project, a study examining occupational health and safety on fishing wharves in Newfoundland.

THE NICKEL INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL (festival partner) began in 2001 in St. John's and occurs annually in the third week of June at the historic LSPU Hall. As part of its year-round outreach, the Nickel produces a two-week tour to rural schools in the province, showing films made by and for young people and offering hands on filmmaking workshops. A travelling roadshow screens films at summer festivals and community centres. Outdoor screenings in the summer and special events through the year highlight the achievements of local and Canadian independent filmmakers. The Nickel has become an invaluable multi-faceted showcase for artists of many disciplines. Governed by a board of independent filmmakers and film enthusiasts, Janelle Hickey is the current Festival Director.