Sundance Institute Appoints Tracy Brady as Marketing Chief Before the 2027 Boulder Move

Sundance Institute named Tracy Brady as its chief marketing, brand and communications officer on 20 October 2026, according to the institute’s own announcement. The post leads the nonprofit’s marketing and communications strategy at a time of change for the organization.

The appointment comes as the Sundance Film Festival prepares to leave Park City, Utah, for Boulder, Colorado, in 2027. For readers following women in film, it puts a woman in charge of the brand and public presence of the institute behind the festival.

Brady’s Career Spans Studios, Media Companies and Agencies

The announcement lists earlier work in publicity, awards and marketing strategy at Fox Searchlight Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Turner Broadcasting, along with agency roles. It also cites corporate communications work advising chief executives, executives and boards through periods of transformation and growth.

Her most recent post is senior vice president of communications and social impact at Green Thumb Industries. Before that, the announcement says she built and scaled global communications teams at Curaleaf, and served as senior vice president of corporate communications and marketing at Hill Holiday. There, it says, she directed sponsorship and experiential marketing for the Sundance Film Festival and other cultural events.

At Arnold Entertainment and Arnold Brand Promotions, the announcement lists a vice president role leading partnership and sponsorship strategy, including for the festival.

The announcement also describes her as a published novelist, essayist and award-winning humorist, and the founder of Wit & Word, a live event series. It lists a communications degree from Fordham University and study at the Sorbonne.

The Festival’s Move
A ten-year deal to move the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder, Colorado, was announced on 27 March 2025, with 2027 as the first Boulder edition, according to Wikipedia.

What the Role Covers Before the Boulder Move

According to the announcement, Brady will lead the institute’s overall marketing and communications strategy and unify messaging and public presence across the organization. The role also covers aligning brand reputation, media relations and digital strategy with current culture and independent filmmaking trends.

She will connect the institute’s impact work, artist programs and the Boulder festival into one experience. She reports to David Linde, the institute’s chief executive, and will be based in Boulder.

Linde is quoted in the announcement calling her a ‘visionary, strategic and results-oriented’ marketing and communications leader. Brady said she is thrilled and honored to join the institute at a time of transformation.

A similar post existed before. In 2019, Sundance named Michael Monroe chief marketing officer, with responsibility for brand, marketing and communications strategy, including the festival. He reported to then-CEO Keri Putnam. The institute’s release is dated 22 May 2019, with a start date of 28 May 2019.

Women in Senior Roles: What the Available Data Shows

The figures in this section measure production roles, not institution or studio leadership. A 17 September 2025 report from the European Audiovisual Observatory, a Council of Europe body, found that women made up 27% of professionals on European feature film production from 2015 to 2024.

Directors were at 27%. The report gives an increase of 3% for directors between the 2015-2019 and 2020-2024 averages. At the current rate of growth, the observatory says parity for directors would not be reached before 2047. Producers were at 34%, the highest share among the roles it reports, with parity projected for 2077.

Screenwriters were at 31%, editors at 30%, cinematographers at 14% and composers at 13%. Parity is projected for composers in 2061 and editors in 2074. According to the Council of Europe, documentaries had the strongest female presence of any genre.

This article has no current sector-wide figure for women in senior marketing, communications or leadership roles at film institutions or studios to set against the appointment.

The appointment comes as the Sundance Film Festival prepares to leave Park City, Utah, for Boulder, Colorado, in 2027.

Timing Ahead of the 2027 Festival in Boulder

As of 21 October 2026, the announcement gives no start date for Brady. It also does not describe a marketing plan for the 2027 festival.

Wikipedia’s entry on the festival says a ten-year deal to move it to Boulder was announced on 27 March 2025, with the 2027 edition as the first held there. The entry says the current Park City contract expires after the 2026 festival, and that the festival has been held every January since its 1981 move to Park City.

The same entry lists other reasons for the move, including the view that the festival had outgrown the resort town. Locals said it brought in too much traffic, and the institute’s decision to cancel the 2022 festival due to COVID concerns was viewed negatively. The entry says the Institute will keep its Utah headquarters in Park City, and that its labs will stay at the Sundance resort.

The entry also says that in March 2025 a proposed Utah bill, HB77, to ban Pride flags in state government buildings reached the governor and decreased the chances of keeping the festival in Utah, since it went against Sundance’s stated values of an inclusive festival.