More Staff Leaves IDA Amid Ongoing Exodus At Leading Documentary Filmmaker Association

deadline.com:

EXCLUSIVE: The International Documentary Association continues to lose staff. Deadline has learned five more employees have left the embattled organization recently, including one whose resignation takes effect today.This follows the departure in early January of four senior staff members who filed a complaint about “workplace conduct” by IDA executive director Rick Pérez, who was appointed only last May, and actions by the board which the four said constituted a “betrayal of public commitments to the documentary field.”About 16 people remain on staff, meaning the IDA, the premier nonprofit supporting the work of nonfiction storytellers, has shed almost 40 percent of its workforce in less than two months.

That’s not counting another staffer we are told plans to leave imminently, and two other staffers who tell Deadline they are looking to exit as soon as they can line up other jobs.Among those who resigned recently is Cassidy Dimon, who served as associate director of public programs and events.

In a statement shared exclusively with Deadline, she said, “Working at the IDA was a dream of mine. I am very proud of the work I did over the past nearly 4 years, but the current atmosphere at the organization, that I and many other staff members experienced as hostile and intimidating, made it untenable for me to stay.”Among Dimon’s responsibilities was organizing the IDA Awards, the association’s signature annual event.

The ceremony had been set to take place in-person in early February, but the Omicron surge forced a postponement to this Friday, when the awards will be presented virtually.Dimon added in her statement, “In resigning, it is my hope that the leadership of IDA prioritizes staff wellbeing and upholds commitments