The Hollywood Film Festival® -- the entertainment industry's first festival foray to underscore the convergence of Hollywood and new media -- presented Graham Nash with the festival's inaugural Hollywood Visionary CyberAward® at a gala ceremony cybercast live from the legendary Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel on Saturday, October 18th. Whether as part of music's "British Invasion" in the mid-1960s, as a member of the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame group Crosby, Stills and Nash, as a respected photographer and pioneer in digital imaging with Nash Editions, or as a groundbreaking performance artist creating new dimensions of interactive, multimedia-driven entertainment with his autobiographical piece, LifeSighs, Graham Nash has been guided by his unique approach to storytelling.

    The importance of family in particular cannot be understated for Nash, and is one of the major themes of LifeSighs, Nash's multimedia performane piece that debued in 1995 and continues to evolve as a work in progress. In the dynamic show which combines live storytelling and songs backed by a stunning, interactive display of imagery and animation, Nash demonstrates his vision, creativity and drive to set new standards for entertainment, as well as for its emerging delivery systems.

    Since 1989, digital image processing and interactive multimedia have become an important focus of Nash's work. Nash Editions is a digital fine art press using Iris inkjet printers capable of producing high-resolution prints on a variety of museum-grade media. In addition to printing, Nash's own work, the press serves many noted artists such as David Hockney, Francesco Clemente and Jamie Wyeth.

    Over the past several years, Nash has been involved with collaborator Rand Wetherwax in the Nash Digital Studio, a multimedia production studio built around a network of Silicon Graphics and Macintosh computers, as well as digital audio recording systems. Since its inception, the studio's empahsis has been on the integration of media and more sophisticated interactivity into live performance. Current developments include real-time, 3-D digital puppetry (CyberGraham), interactive performance control of digital media, and live networked performance via ISDN. All of these elements are incorporated in the production on LifeSighs.
    In February 1997, Nash received the Arts & Technology Medal and an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from the New York Institute of Technology for his groundbreaking work in bridging the arts and technology.

    Hollywood remains the entertainment world's flashpoint image. And although the world will continue to need entertainment in the years to come, the paradigm of what is currently known as "Hollywood" is undergoing a global transformation. From virtual production teams to filmmakers creating their visions from their own physical corners of the universe, the Information Age is creating a more engaged creative effort around the world.