New Tallgrass leader’s career path is either an inspiration or a cautionary tale

Melanie Addington’s career path could be seen either as an inspiration or a cautionary tale.

That’s because the Southern California native moved to Oxford, Miss., to get a master’s degree in higher education and student personnel with plans to work for a university, but she volunteered so much for the Oxford Film Festival that she ended up becoming its executive director.

“I kept accidentally moving up the ranks,” she said.

Now, Addington is moving to Wichita to be the new executive director for the Tallgrass Film Association.

Previously, Addington had been a juror for the Tallgrass Film Festival, and she knew of the organization’s reputation on the film festival circuit.

“Tallgrass Film Festival is beloved on the film festival circuit,” Addington said.

“The audiences here . . . really appreciate and celebrate independence in film. . . . For filmmakers, it’s such a dream to connect to audiences, and Wichita does that really well.”

Addington’s undergraduate degree is in English, and she has a minor in film with a particular focus on film criticism. She said she loved writing and movies, and her degrees “kind of collided.”

In addition to loving the Tallgrass Film Festival, Addington said she’s a fan of Wichita, too, including downtown and its Tallgrass venues.

“That Orpheum is gorgeous.”

Addington said she wasn’t necessarily looking to leave Oxford, but when she saw the Tallgrass opening, she said, “Oh, I love that town. Maybe I’ll try for this one just in case.”

Previous executive director Paul Melroy left in January.

Addington said she is impressed with the Tallgrass staff and appreciates how welcoming everyone has been.

“The board is so tremendous the way they kept things together over the pandemic.”

Addington said she wants to help amplify what the festival is already doing and doesn’t plan to come in and make changes.

“Really, my first year is going to be learning and listening.”