2020 ACM Award Winners Announced

Emerging Leader Award
MATT SULLIVAN, Larchmont Mamaroneck Community Television



Matt Sullivan started his career at the very place where he currently serves as Executive Director.  From his early days at Larchmont Mamaroneck Community Television (LMCTV), he was drawn to storytelling.  His passion for the art of film and media led him to Emerson College in Boston, where he majored in Visual Arts. Taking advantage of the school's placement programs he spent semesters in the Netherlands and Los Angeles. During his time at Emerson, Matt worked on over 40 student films, doing everything from assistant camera, to producer, to director. As a student, Matt produced "The Fabulous Felix McCabe," which was nominated that year for an MTV Movie Award. 

During his last semester at Emerson College, Matt interned for @Radical Media, personally doing script coverage for director Dave Meyers. After graduating Emerson College, Matt moved to Los Angeles where he started work on the game show "Deal or no Deal."
He worked on several different reality TV shows until 2007, when he became Production Coordinator on the CW Network's "Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight." It was here that Matt learned the many facets of pre-production, production, and post-production. Wanting to explore more of his artistic side, Matt changed gears in 2008 and started working in the art department on Fox's hit show "24" with Kiefer Sutherland. It was a goal and dream to work on the show, as Matt was both a fan and in awe of the show's hard edge, seat gripping action and suspense. The seventh season of the award-winning show saw Matt working under production designer Joseph Hodges. After finishing the season, Matt went on to work in the art departments of several other award-winning shows including Fox's "House" and ABC's "Castle."

In 2011, Matt moved back to New York and started fresh, taking a job at LMCTV as the Community and Government Production Coordinator.  Over the next several years, Matt moved up in the company taking the job of Assistant Director and then Chief Operating Officer.  In April of 2018, he took over the position of Executive Director.  Throughout those years, he produced and directed "Sobrevivo," a short film that won "Best Zombie Film" at the NY Scary Movie Awards. Shortly after, Matt wrote, directed, and produced "The Attic," which had a successful film festival run as well. His current film "Dead Air," is in a successful festival run with official selections worldwide.  The film is currently in feature length development.  Matt currently serves with honor on both the NY Chapter of the Alliance for Community Media and the Alliance for Community Media Northeast Region Board.  He is a proud member of the Larchmont Mamaroneck Lions Club and the Sound Shore Saint Patrick’s Day Parade Committee.  

The Dirk Koning – George Stoney Award for Humanistic Communication

Alan bushong


Alan Bushong is the recently retired Executive Director of Capital Community Television (CCTV), a Public, Education and Government Access non-profit organization in Salem, Oregon. He began his career working for Austin Community Television for eleven years, the last three as Executive Director. In 1989, the CCTV Board hired Alan to start CCTV and to bring TV to Salem, the largest state capital in the nation with no local broadcast TV station. Since that time, CCTV has taught media skills to several thousand people and has produced more than 10,000 programs. CCTV’s most watched program, the 2017 live total solar eclipse, had nearly 60,000 YouTube and Facebook views. 

In 2008 CCTV moved from the Salem Public Library to its 11,000 square foot Trade Street media center, adding a second studio and enabling members of the community to produce a wider variety of programs for TV and the internet. CCTV operates two production trucks to cover community events. CCTV assists fellow non-profit organizations by providing coverage of their services. CCTV will fully launch a full power FM radio station later this year in a multimedia wing that also serves as a Joint Information Center for local governments to plan and distribute emergency information. 

Alan served 20 years on the Alliance for Community Media National Board. While Board Chair, the Alliance accomplished a rare overturning of a federal law at the Supreme Court, eliminating a law that would have allowed cable company editorial control over community TV channels. 

In Salem, he serves as President of Friends of Music, a group that advocates for music and arts education in public schools. He also serves on the Salem-Kawagoe (Japan) and Salem-Gimhae (Korea) Sister City Boards. His wife Jacinta is retired from the Judson Middle School Library and his daughter Erica works for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Denver. They have a very lazy orange tabby cat named Ray and a dog named Annie. 

Buske Leadership Award
Mary van sickle, DAKOTA MEDIA ACCESS



Mary Van Sickle is the Executive Director of Dakota Media Access (DMA) in Bismarck, ND. Since 2000, she has served at the PEG community media center, launching the Dakota Film Festival in 2011 and LPFM Radio Access in 2016. 

Prior to DMA, Mary worked in a variety of marketing, economic development, and non-profit management positions. She has served in various leadership roles and on numerous committees locally and nationally. She is the past chair of the national Board of Directors for the Alliance for Community Media (ACM) and the Midwest Region Board of the ACM. 

The Jewell Ryan-White Award for Cultural Diversity
Kathryn “KatMeow” García, Open Signal, Portland Community media center


Kathryn “KatMeow” García is a bilingual Media Educator and current Manager of Community Media Advocacy at Open Signal, Portland Community Media Center. They work with instructors and volunteers to support media education curriculum that engages creativity, values equity and provides access to industry standard production equipment and software.

KatMeow is an Executive Director for the Girl Game Gang; a small production company that recruits mainly BIPOC lady and non-binary identified emerging film industry professionals. 

Katmeow is also part of the Thurston County Santo Tomás Sister City Association. KatMeow has served as a delegate for TSTSCA working, teaching and living in Nicaragua to learn more about self-sustaining non-profits in Nicaragua and share about similar nonprofit structures in the US. 

KatMeow volunteers for the local Sexual Assault Resource Center (SARC) as a peer support for survivors and The Healing Circle VOCA Camp for youth survivors.

KatMeow currently serves as the President of The KBOO Foundation and is Liaison to the Development Committee. 

KatMeow is a graduate of The Evergreen State College, and earned a BFA in Film and a minor in Social Justice. They hold a Small Business certificate from University of International Business and Economics, Beijing China. In their spare time they are a producer, painter, writer, singer, gardener and an activist.