Program Faculty

Mindy Johnson

Award-winning author, historian, filmmaker, educator, musician and more, Mindy Johnson is a leading expert on women’s roles in animation and film history. She was recently honored with the 2019 Film Scholar Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Grant Foundation for continued research and writing on the contributions of the earliest women within our collective animated past. Author of the game-changing volume ‘Ink & Paint, the Women of Walt Disney’s Animation,’ Mindy also lectures on early cinema, animation, women’s history, and creativity. 

Mindy has produced record-breaking global campaigns, creative content, exhibitions and events for a growing list of clients including: The Disney Company, AMPAS/Oscars.org, WNET/American Masters, The Walt Disney Family Museum, SiriusXM Radio and Horipro Entertainment. 

An award-winning playwright, Grammy-nominated songwriter and composer, Mindy is also a contributing artist on several internationally acclaimed recordings. She teaches cinema history/aesthetics, intercultural studies and writing within the Los Angeles area, including the first-of-its-kind course on the history of women and under-represented groups in animation at CalArts – California Institute of the Arts.