Christian Gaines

A film, arts and technology leader with experience in the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, Christian Gaines has held leadership positions at the Sundance Film Festival, the Hawai‘i International Film Festival and the American Film Institute. For five years, Gaines ran business development at Withoutabox, a film festival submissions platform acquired by IMDb, a division of Amazon. In 2013, he became executive director of ArtPrize, a disruptive international art competition held in Grand Rapids, Michigan. During this time, he served as a council member on the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs. In January 2019, Gaines joined WESTAF as its executive director. Gaines is passionate about bringing opportunities to artists, creating joyful spaces, and inspiring teams to do their best work. (Board term 2021-2024)