Building Heights provides educational and vocational programs in the film arts for Cleveland Heights and University Heights students in grades 5-12.
We were founded in 2015 by a group of Cleveland Heights-University Heights parents supported through the CHUH PTA Council. Dedicated to facilitating a safe, inclusive, community-focused school environment for all CHUH students through outreach and programming, we partner with Cleveland Heights and University Heights businesses and nonprofits.
MISSION STATEMENT
Building Heights develops and teaches hands-on learning experiences through the art of film. Our programs create opportunities for students to explore their individual and collective creativity, learn foundational skills in all aspects of the film industry, while nurturing their imagination, confidence and maturity.
Our Staff
Jen Holland
Jen is a Co-Founder of both Building Heights and Heights Middle School Shorts programming as well as the Executive Director of Building Heights & Director of Programming for Heights Middle School Shorts. She has been actively involved in CHUH student enrichment for nearly 20 years and has served as the Roxboro PTA President, the Heights High PTSA President, and the President for CHUH PTA Councils Executive Board. Prior to being appointed in her new role for Building Heights and Heights Middle School Shorts, she was formerly the President of Building Heights. Jen and her husband have lived in Cleveland Heights for 40+ years. They are the proud parents of four children in CH-UH schools one who is a recent graduate from Cleveland Heights High School.
Lance Godard
A Co-Founder of Building Heights and Heights Middle School Shorts, Lance is the Assistant Executive Director of Building Heights and Program Coordinator for Heights Middle School Shorts. He has been involved in the district’s student enrichment programs for many years through PTAs in four CHUH buildings and Building Heights. A long-standing student of film, Lance first participated in amateur productions while in college before studying film and film theory at the Sorbonne in grad school. He and his wife are the parents of two Cleveland Heights graduates and have lived in Cleveland Heights for more than 25 years.
We’re committed to our community.
We create programs that help the youth of Cleveland Heights and University Heights – your kids and ours – discover their talents, learn new skills, and have positive experiences as they collaborate with their peers to create works of art.
Our Board of Directors
Maureen Burns
Maureen Burns serves as Director of Programming for Playhouse Square. A long, long time ago, she taught junior high where she was inspired to support students through artistic and cultural opportunities in Northeast Ohio. When she’s not inside a theatre, she’s outdoors exploring the beauty of our community with her husband Phil and step-daughter Olivia.
Patrick Carpenter
Patrick Carpenter taught third grade at Oxford Elementary School and was building Title Lead before moving over to Noble Elementary School as building principal. Currently, he is an Ohio Department of Education and Workforce OhioReads Literacy Coach. He grew up in Cleveland before moving to the Heights. What he loves most about being in the Heights: the tremendous commitment of the community to the arts and arts education.
Mariegabrielle James
Mariegabrielle is a Remy Cointreau Key Account Manager/Sales Specialist at the Republic National Distributing Company.
Mariegabrielle is a Heights alum, parent of students in the CHUH School District, as well as the immediate past President of the CHUH PTA Council for CHUH School District.
Angela Kirkland
Recently retired, Angela Kirkland taught middle school at Monticello for 23 years, where she was named Most Valuable Teacher, Team Leader, and Tiger Team Member of the Month multiple teams. In addition, she was advisor for Ladies of Leadership at Monticello, organizing a group of 30+ girls to participate in service learning activities in and out of school. Angela and her husband are business owners in Cleveland Heights.
Shelbi Nelson
Shelbi is a Registered Nurse, actor and mom of three children. When she is not working, her hobbies include weekly movies with her family. Shelbi is a native of California and now resides with her husband in Cleveland Heights.
Cliff Sweeney
A Creative Arts Teacher at Lake Erie Ink, Cliff has been Principal Instructor at Heights Middle School Shorts for three years and is excited to join the HMSS leadership team.
Sara Wolf
Sarah is a licensed social worker in the state of Ohio, who currently serves as the Community-Building Programs Manager at FutureHeights in Cleveland Heights. Sarah is a writer, activist, community-builder, and strength-based leader with 28 years of professional experience in both nonprofit and for-profit organizations.
Our Instructors
Cynthia Booker
Cynthia teaches digital video production at Cleveland Heights High School and brings our kids more than 20 years of media experience to the classroom as a two-time Emmy award-winning journalist who was an anchor/reporter at Cleveland’s WOIO-TV & WUAB-TV.
Antonio Harper
Antonio Harper is the founder of West 10G Productions. A Heights alum and graduate of Cleveland State University’s Film & Digital Media program, he was the Film Instructor for our inaugural Heights Middle School Shorts camp. In 2016, he founded West 10G Productions, a Cleveland-based independent film production studio. Currently, Antonio and his partner are in Los Angeles working on a significant production.
Andrew Montlack
Andy, a Cleveland Heights native, is a novelist with 15 years of experience in the New York and Cleveland independent film worlds. His directorial debut, Him!, screened overseas and earned the Cleveland International Film Festival’s Best Ohio Short Film. His next project, the feature-length mockumentary The Devil’s Filmmaker, was among the first wave of all-digital movies and was picked up for distribution by Alpha Video.
Tyler Maxey
Heights grad Tyler Maxey is a composer/arranger who specializes in film music, concert music, and custom-arranged scores for marching and pep bands. He is pursuing his Master’s in Music Composition at Cleveland State University. He composed the music for the short film The Baby Doll Dance (featured at CSU’s annual student film showcase and the Youngstown Film Festival, where it was nominated for “Best Area Film”).
Rémi Godard
A budding actor and filmmaker with working experience in France and the United States, Rémi recently graduated from the Cours Florent, an acting conservatory based in Paris. During his three years in their film program, he refined both his acting skills and also the behind-the-camera proficiency he gained at Cleveland State University’s School of Film and Media Arts, where he studied Acting and Directing with additional work in cinematography and editing.
Nat Dinga
Nat has an extensive background in film and TV that goes back 25 years, starting when he graduated Heights High School in 1996 to attend the Tische School of the Arts at NYU and earn his BFA (2000). Since then, Nat has worked for everyone in the film industry: directors, showrunners, producers, entertainment attorneys, and more. He worked on countless short films, then produced a feature film, Fix starring Olivia Wilde. In 2019, he earned a certificate in TV writing from UCLA while also working as a script coordinator on the network shows La Brea and Fantasy Island.