After six years of overseeing our studios and gear, guiding members through the production process, and making sure our events and activities went off as smooth as can be, we’re sad to say that Tyler Klein Longmire is stepping down as Quickdraw’s production director to focus on his personal artistic practice. We’re excited that he’ll be creating new work and pushing his artistic practice forward, but it’s definitely bittersweet, and I’m sure our members understand why.

It’s hard to sum up the contributions Tyler has made to our community in just one news post. His dedication to making Quickdraw work has extended into every area of what we do, from working closely with our architects in mapping out our Sunalta studios, to helping our members fine tune their grant applications, to setting up and maintaining the finest fleet of production resources we could ask for. If you’ve been to any of Quickdraw’s events, you can thank Tyler for the fact that our tech didn’t fall apart. If you’ve ever come to our Free Swim drop-in sessions, you can credit those to Tyler’s desire to support our members in creating their films. And behind the scenes, he is always looking for new ways to keep Quickdraw accessible, useful, and creatively inspiring.

Like we said, we’re excited to see what Tyler creates next. Even while he’s been working at Quickdraw, his projects in and outside our work have been pretty incredible in their fusion of animation, theatre, and other media. From his Calgary Space Station installation at the Calgary Tower during Beakerhead, to his collaboration with the Major Matt Mason collective on both productions of Premium Content to a host of other interactive installations, Tyler’s work is always thoughtful, engaging and fun. We’re looking forward to seeing him around Quickdraw over the next year working on his next projects.

Thanks for everything you’ve done to build this place over the last six years, Tyler. It wouldn’t be the same without you.