About MAC

Montana Arts Council Staff

Cinda Holt

Cinda Holt is the Montana Arts Council's Business Development Specialist. She is also the president and founder of the Montana Five Rivers Festival of Film based in Missoula, Montana as well as an independent consultant. Prior to joining the arts council staff, Cinda served five years as the development director for MCT, Inc. (Missoula Children's Theatre/MCT Center for the Performing Arts), steering a $5M capital campaign which resulted in a state-of-the-art auditorium and administrative headquarters for the company.

Prior to moving to Montana, Cinda was the managing director of Maurice Sendak's The Night Kitchen, a national touring children's theatre based in New York City. Before she began working with children's theatres, Cinda served nearly ten years (1982 to 1991) at the Sundance Institute for Film and Television as the managing director of the Sundance Film Festival and as the administrative director of the Institute's film, music and dance laboratories. While working for Sundance Cinda was a panelist and site reviewer for the State of Florida Cultural Institutions Grants Program/Interdisciplinary Arts and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting/Performing Arts Programming Awards Panel (1987 and 1988).

Since Cinda moved (back) to Montana in 1994 she has provided consultation in all matters relating to non-profit businesses, primarily to dance organizations, film festivals, heritage projects and natural resource programs. She is a site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts Dance Program and has served as a panel member for the NEA's Dance program and Media program, as well as Montana's Cultural Trust Grants program.

Cinda received a Master of Fine Arts degree in Arts Administration from the Theatre Department at the University of Utah (1981) and a Bachelor of Fine Arts with an emphasis in Modern Dance from The University of Montana (1976).