People on the Move

Tony Bartolucci and Hannah Smit have been both been promoted to creative director at 180 Amsterdam, forming a new creative partnership to lead the Benetton and ASICS accounts.  
 
Bartolucci joined 180 Amsterdam in 2013, and has since been involved with a number of high profile campaigns on global accounts such as ASICS and PlayStation. His unique approach to conceptualizing inspired design creative has produced highly lauded work, including ASICS’ "One With The City" campaign.  Prior to moving across the Atlantic, Bartolucci worked as an associate creative director at DDB, where he turned out notable work for the New York Lottery.
 
Smit’s promotion comes just nine months after joining 180 Amsterdam, where she has played a pivotal role in the rebranding of Benetton, spearheading the integrated "Clothes for Humans" campaign which included film, print and in-store assets, product design, website redesign, a new voice and an in-store overhaul. She previously worked in Australia and Canada. In the latter market, Smit served as associate creative director at John St in Toronto where she worked on brands including President’s Choice, ING Bank, Shoppers Drug Mart and Winners (TJX).

Al Moseley, president and chief creative officer, 180 Amsterdam, commented: “Between Tony’s skill for sophisticated design and Hannah’s pragmatic conceptualization there is a really potent mix of skills and experience, so we look forward to seeing their combined force on future projects.”

Producer Lawrence Cumbo has joined Pixeldust Studios, a multi Emmy Award-winning, digital animation and broadcast production studio headed by president and creative director Ricardo Andrade. Cumbo becomes sr. VP of development and content as part of an initiative to expand the company’s entertainment division.

Cumbo brings to Pixeldust an active development slate comprised of over 30 projects. Over the past 25 years, Andrade and Cumbo have forged a close friendship, which began when they first worked together producing indie films, live events and studio based programming. Pixeldust’s goal is to produce original TV series and specials for broadcast, SVOD’s, and sponsored content, as well as continue creating original VR-360 and AR content, and live stream programming.  
 
Cumbo brings a decade of experience as an EP and showrunner to Pixeldust, which enjoys a rich history of producing short form content and award winning animation and motion graphics for high profile broadcast, cable and streaming television properties airing around the world. 
 
In addition to its established position as an animation and production studio for hire by top broadcast and cable TV networks, educational institutions, and charitable foundations, Pixeldust’s entertainment division has successfully developed and produced three streaming TV series for client CuriosityStream. Launched in 2015 by Discovery founder John Hendricks as a non-fiction SVOD service, CuriosityStream is the world’s first, ad-free, on-demand subscription streaming service for nonfiction programming. Pixeldust’s work for CuriousityStream to date has included providing live action footage, high-end animation, and all production content for that SVOD’s new series “Ancient Earth,” for the series “A Curious World,” now in its third season, and for the first season of the series “The Bronze Age.”
 
Cumbo is a multi-award winning EP. He has delivered over 200 hours of programming for Smithsonian Channel, National Geographic Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery, TLC, A&E. and BIO Channel, and recently joined forces with Smithsonian Channel to create “Rocking the Opera House: Dr. John,” a new music series. Cumbo has also served as an EP for overseas concerns like Tiger Aspect Productions and Natural History New Zealand.  Some of the titles Cumbo has overseen during his career include, “I Survived,” “Orangutan Island,” “Jurassic CSI,” “Celebrating the American Woman,” “Dark Days in Monkey City,” “Ms. Adventure,” “Rookies,” “Expedition Antarctica” and “Tornado Chasers.” 
 
In 2000, Cumbo started his network television career at National Geographic Television and Film, and by 2005, had been appointed sr. producer with National Geographic Specials and Events Production. His films for National Geographic have taken him many places around the world, including war-torn Afghanistan, the rim of an active volcano in Guatemala, inside a tornado in Texas, and the world’s largest prison in India. He hiked with two eye surgeons from Maoist Rebel controlled territory in Nepal to the Himalayan Kingdom of Mustang in the Tibetan Plateau for his award-winning film, “Miracle Doctors.” 
 
In 2004, Cumbo joined National Geographic Channel. There, he served as EP and oversaw over 60 hours of original programming, including such hits as “Inside the Mafia,” “In the Womb,” “Dark Side of Chimps” and “Megastructures.” 
 
In 2002, Cumbo filmed, wrote, and produced “Search for the Afghan Girl,” the headline-making story of Afghan refugee Sharbat Gula, whose photograph first appeared on the cover of the National Geographic magazine in 1985. The film received a worldwide simulcast in over 120 countries, garnering over 150 million viewers during the premiere. The film was nominated for a 2003 Emmy Award and has won several additional industry honors. Earlier in his career, Cumbo produced independent documentaries for Cumbo Media. 

The Artery has launched an experiential arm, naming acclaimed digital artist Yaron Tsinman as the new unit’s creative director. The company’s services in this arena will begin with the development of experiential experiences from initial concept, guided by both research and development, to bring each client’s vision to life. The new services offered will include high-end content creation, visuals, technology and production. The Artery’s uniquely curated teams will utilize their strong technological and production expertise for these new projects, coupled with their proven brand marketing experience.

Announcement of the formation of the experiential arm and the hiring of Tsinman was made by Deborah Sullivan, EP/managing director of The Artery.

The Artery is no stranger to work in the transformative and immersive experience arena. The NY-based company’s experiential brand experiences to date have included producing projects for Cartier/Fifth Avenue, New York; TOPSHOP, Soho, New York; the Tel Aviv Museum; the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow; Radio City Music Hall’s legendary dancers, The Rockettes; and the Expo Milan 2015. 

Prior to joining The Artery, Tsinman was founder and creative director at Noniku, a company which specialized in the business of cutting-edge, multimedia experiences. From 2011-2015, Tsinman was creative director with AVS Creative Visual Solutions, a company which specialized in providing state-of-the-art, multimedia solutions for visitor centers, museums, conferences, concept stores, and large-scale public events. Prior to AVS, Tsinman was creative director with Locomotion (2009-2011), a creative design and animation studio, which presented art exhibitions, 3D video mapping, TV programs, corporate events, live TV specials and music shows, visitor centers, official national ceremonies, and more.

Earlier in his career, Tsinman was a designer and art director with Shortcut Playground, a postproduction house which provided digital content services for broadcasting clients. He is a graduate of Israel’s Musrara School of the Arts, where he majored in New Media and Visual Communication.

Washington Square Films has added Andrea Theodore as executive producer. Theodore has over 15 years of experience in the advertising field, spanning agency, production and postproduction. She comes to the NY-based Washington Square Films from Dress Code NY, where she was executive producer, after spending five years as EP and head of production at Humble. 

Theodore will spearhead business development, as well as talent strategy and curation in her role at Washington Square Films. She will work closely with company president/founder Joshua Blum and managing director Jonathan Schwartz.

Theodore began her career on the agency side as an account executive and quickly made the transition to production after getting hooked on her first on-set experience. She climbed the ranks from PA to line producer, working on commercials and music videos, and managing projects in the U.S. and abroad. From there, she spent five years as EP/managing director of Boston-based post house Finish, spearheading talent curation and a full studio renovation. In 2010, she joined Humble in New York as head of production, expanding her expertise into production and stepping up as EP in 2014. In 2016, she joined boutique production company Dress Code NY as EP.