Will Littleton's return to South Australia after his eye opening community centre experience in New York

Will Littleton is a not-for-profit executive and filmmaker with experience in business administration, fund development, organizational change, and producing. Originally a musician, he completed a Bachelor of Music at the Australian National University before playing in the Adelaide and Canberra Symphony Orchestras. He then studied Conservation and Land Management in Sydney and worked in bush regeneration, water conservation, and arboriculture in Sydney, the UK, and New Zealand.    

In 2012 Will transitioned into the not-for-profit sector, after undertaking a Bachelor of International Development, and also produced his first short film Snakes with writer/director Alies Sluiter. In 2015 he moved to New York City and worked managing the Nutrition and Food Access program at Kingsbridge Heights Community Centre in the Bronx, moving into the Director of Development role in 2016. Whilst in New York, he attended the Columbia University Business School to further develop his leadership, financing and business acumen, but spent his free time at the Columbia Film School producing shorts, reading as many screenplays as possible and sitting in on directing and screenwriting classes. 

To date, he has produced nine short films and executive produced, script edited and/or production managed on over 20 more. Most notably, his film Ayaan, is Academy Award Qualified®, and has been selected for over twenty festivals and won multiple awards. In 2021, Will produced Myth, commissioned by Gravity and Other Myths, which won 5 2021 SASA awards, including the Grand Jury Prize and Best Director, and will begin its festival run in 2022. 

Currently, Will is the Chief Social Investment Officer at Community Centres SA where he is working to diversify their funding, build strategic partnerships, and build the sectors capacity around fund development. He is also producing another short film, Boy on Fire funded by Mercury CX and the SAFC, and is developing a feature script as part of the 2022 SAFC Film Lab: New Voices Initiative, both in collaboration with Alies Sluiter.

Will's Podcast/YouTube recommendations are:
Sisters of invention
Principle of Charity – Emile Sherman, Lloyd Vogelman