Catalyst For The Arts 

CATALYST, founded in 1996, is personified in Harvey E. Harrison

Harvey, a native of Los Angeles, grew up with dual citizenship in Venice Beach and Silverlake/Rampart, two “colorful” Areas of the city.

After graduation from Yale (BA, phi beta kappa, summa cum laude, in philosophy) and Stanford Law School (JD), Harvey practiced entertainment law under the masterful training of Dixon Q. Dern at Dern, Mason, and Floum. Among clients with whom Harvey worked was Chuck Jones.

He began his work as a literary and packaging agent at the Sy Fischer Company/Agency which represented companies like Hanna Barbera as well as individual writer-producer-director talent like Garry Marshall.

During this time and by 1982, Harvey experienced the "digital epiphany", and represented game designers and companies. He has been a pioneer in the effort to advance the digital arts since that early start until the present. Profiled in Newsweek, MSNBC/Wall Street Journal Online, San Francisco Chronicle, and the Los Angeles Times for this effort, Harvey was praised by Newsweek for his "boyish enthusiasm" and "his strategy to win the hearts and minds" of prospective clients.

In the mid 80s, Harvey served as President of the world acclaimed Japanese based animation company TMS Entertainment, with the mission to produce for the US market. When he started, TMS had not yet directly supplied programming to any US outlet. When he concluded at TMS approximately two years later, TMS had produced or was committed to produce 194 half hour animated episodes either directly or subcontract for US clients such as CBS, Disney, and Universal.

After nearly a thousand television series episodes and several movies at Sy Fischer Co and TMS, Harvey joined the "studio side" as Vice President, Business Affairs, for Tri-Star Television and, then, following the merger, in that capacity at Columbia Pictures Television.

Harvey returned to agenting for a number of joyful and productive years with the elite Jim Preminger Agency. While all Harvey’s agency work has been in live action motion pictures and television as well as animated and digital media, his increasing involvement with the latter inspired him to found Catalyst Agency, Inc., in 1996 and in which he served until 2009 and the founding of Catalyst For The Arts.

During this period, Harvey continued the earlier practice of representing companies as well as individual talents. Company clients included Rhythm & Hues (interactive and art divisions), Cyan (Myst, Riven), and Dangerously Adorable Productions (Fear of Girls online comedy series). Individual client included Everett Peck creator/producer of Duckman, the enduring television series favorite, and creator/executive producer of Squirrel Boy the series recently launched by Cartoon Network as well as Alexandra Dreyfus, star of online hit series Lonelygirl-15.

As digital media had pervaded human life and they continued to widen and extend in influence, Harvey founded in 2006 and operated Burning Shorts the first e-zine dedicataed to quaility original online creative content. www.burningshorts.com

Harvey’s work as a pioneer in digital media extends beyond entertainment to include academia. In response to their need, Harvey advised the department of psychiatry and the related Neuropsychiatric Institute (now the Jane & Terry SEMEL INSTITUTE for Neuroscience & Human Behavior) at UCLA regarding distribution of its educational content in digital media. As a result of this consultancy, the department invited Harvey to join the faculty; he served as lecturer in the department of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at UCLA (appointed 2000-2009). 

To advance digital media in academia, Harvey founded his original contribution to Knowledge Management as Liquid Knowledge, an interdisciplinary methodology to optimize digital media and human values and needs. www.liquidknowledge.info/welcome.htm 

In 2009, as digital media continued to widen and extend in influence, Harvey founded Catalyst For The Arts (in part, successor in spirit to Catalyst Agency) so that his efforts could widen and extend in scope as the media continued to do so.

Beyond the media and while Harvey does not practice entertainment law, he donated pro bono services as a volunteer attorney in the juvenile division of the Office of the Public Defender, Ventura County, focusing on school placement issues, or, as he describes his efforts, "from Juvenile to School Hall". This service has led to his teaching at the Juvenile Facility in Oxnard, California.

Harvey is married to Jeanne Harrison, a businessperson, and they have two children, David and Rebecca.: 

Harvey’s “academic curriculum vitae”, prepared for UCLA and related academic activities is below. This is the high resolution, close up, and complete look at Harvey…

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CURRICULUM VITAE

Harvey E. Harrison, JD
818-597-8335 (office) 818-597-1443 (fax)
jasper@ix.netcom.com
www.catalystforthearts.com   www.burningshorts.com
www.liquidknowledge.info/welcome.htm

 

Academic and Professional Activities and Appointments

2009-present founder/president, Catalyst for the Arts. www.catalystforthearts.com
2000-2009 Lecturer, UCLA Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences.
2007-present, Philosophy and Digital Literature Editor, Exterminating Angel Press, www.exterminatingangel.com.
2006-present, Founder, Publisher, Editor, Burning Shorts, www.burningshorts.com, online video journal of digital literature.
2005-2006 Teacher, Life Skills, Juvenile Facility, Ventura County, Oxnard, California.
2004-2005 Ventura County Deputy Public Defender (pro bono attorney).
2004 Advisory Panel, Selection Committee, Position of Executive Director, Ventura County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA).
2003 Delegate of the Los Angeles County Bar Association to the Conference of Delegates of the California Bar Associations.
2002 Official Visitor, Center for the Advanced Study of the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford (see also Presentations below).
2002 Lecturer, Laguna College of Art and Design.
1999-2002 Board Member, Multimedia Program Advisory Board, California Lutheran University, Thousand Oaks, California.

Legal Education
Stanford Law School, J.D. 1977.

Undergraduate Education
Yale College, B.A. (Philosophy) 1973; Summa cum laude; Phi Beta Kappa.

Major Appellate Litigation
Attorney for Appellant Charles J. Liteky in case of United States versus Charles J. Liteky, heard by the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals, Atlanta, Georgia 2000-2001. See http://www.mishalov.com/Liteky.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Liteky  .

Legal Certifications
Admitted to practice Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeal, United States Circuit Courts of Appeal, Atlanta, Georgia.
Active member California State Bar.
Admitted to practice Federal District Court, Central District of California.

Professional Experience:
Publisher, Burning Shorts, www.burningshorts.com, 2006-present.
President, Liquid Knowledge, 2002-present.
President, Catalyst Agency 1996- 2009.
Literary and Software Agent, Jim Preminger Agency 1989- 1996.
Vice President, Business Affairs, Columbia Pictures Television/TriStar Television 1987-1988.
President, Sales/ Consultant. TMS Entertainment, Inc. 1984-1986.
Business Affairs, Packaging, Literary and Software Agent, Sy Fischer Company/Taft Entertainment 1979-1984.
Entertainment Attorney, Dern, Mason and Floum 1977-1979.

Membership in Professional Associations
California State Bar.
Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.
Los Angeles County Bar Association.
Electronic Literature Organization, www.eliterature.org.

Associations
Member, the Working Group on Human Complex Systems at UCLA, which is developing an undergraduate minor and a graduate specialization
Member, the Working Group on Awe-inspiring Experiences at UCLA funded by the Templeton Foundation (focusing on the connection of religion and neuroscience).
National Conference of Viet Nam Veteran Ministers (non veteran/non clergy member).
Founding Member of the Committee for the Arts of the Beverly Hills Bar Association.

Books and Articles (partial list)

“Answering Harvard”, Exterminating Angel Press, www.exterminatingangel.com. Essay, 2007.

“For R”, Exterminating Angel Press, www.exterminatingangel.com. Essay, 2007.

“For the Sad Inuit”, Exterminating Angel Press, www.exterminatingangel.com. Essay, 2007.

“Diary of a Dad”, Exterminating Angel Press, www.exterminatingangel.com. Essay, 2007.

Burning Shorts, www.burningshorts.com, online video literary journal, founded 2006.

“The Chunk”, originally published at the Directory of the Electronic Literature Organization, www.eliterature.org. Electronic fiction. May, 2003.

“Uriah”, originally published at the Directory of the Electronic Literature Organization, www.eliterature.org. Electronic fiction. April, 2003.

For The Creative Mind, presented and published by Liquid Knowledge, Inc. Text for professional education art curricula and for general readership; www.liquidknowledge.info, 2002.

“Don’t Lose Our Minds: The Need To Protect Academic Property”, Journal of the Intellectual Property Section, State Bar of California, 2002.

“Closing Argument: Exclusivity Clauses And Artistic Freedom”, Los Angeles Lawyer Magazine, April, 1999.

"Looking For Leo . . . And Beyond", International Interactive Communications Society National Website, Professional Development Section Feature Article, October 1998.

"A Declaration of Independence: Artistic Freedom, Exclusivity In The Entertainment Industry, and California Law," in Writer’s Handbook, published by California Lawyers For The Arts, Santa Monica (1997).

"Act, React, Interact: The Experiment in Interactive Aesthetics," 1997 at http://www.wga.org and presented at Special Convergence Day at The Writers Guild, May 17, 1997.

“Agents: The Year in Review”, Animation Magazine, January 1997.

“Doctor James To The Emergency Room: An Invitation To Applied Philosophy," attachment to "Act, React, Interact: The Experiment In Interactive Aesthetics," above and available from The Writers Guild or the author, March 1997.

"Doctor James To The Board Of Directors Meeting: Outline Of An Experiment In Applied Philosophy," attachment to "Act, React, Interact: The Experiment In Interactive Aesthetics," above and available from The Writers Guild or the author, March 1997.

"Ethics and Negotiation: The Search for Value and Freedom in Hollywood," International Journal of Applied Philosophy, vol.7 no.1 (1992).

"The Shape of Things to Come An Essay on Interactive Aesthetics," Los Angeles County Bar Association Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Section, New Technologies 101: A Practical Approach for Entertainment Lawyers, ed. Peter L. Kaufman & Peter C. Swarth (1992).

"Toward the Alliance Between Interactive Technologies and Hollywood," published in the Microsoft CD-ROM Yearbook, 1989-1990.

"Ethics and Negotiation: A Work in Progress," Syllabus of the 1992 UCLA Entertainment Symposium (UCLA Law School).

 

Presentations
(All presentations in the Los Angeles Area, unless otherwise noted.)
“Special Education Law And The Juvenile Probation Client”, Ventura County Probation Department, Ventura, California, March 23, 2005.

“Overview of Special Education Law”, Santa Barbara Public Defender, Santa Barbara, California, February 3, 2005.

“The Commodification of Education”, “Playing, Gaming, Learning”, Cyberspace UCLA Working Group, UCLA, October 17, 2003.

“Copyright And Open Source Round Table”, e(x)literature: Preservation, Archiving and Dissemination of Electronic Literature, April 3-4, 2003, University of California, Santa Barbara, Conference sponsored by the Electronic Literature Organization and the digital Cultures Project.

“Dont’ Lose Our Minds: The Need To Protect Academic Property”, to Cyberspace UCLA Working Group, UCLA, January 17, 2003.

“Digital Media In The ‘Natural’ Community”, Special Guest Speaker, Virtual Communication Acceleration Conference, Guadalupe, California, January 15, 2003.

“Liquid Knowledge: An Overview”, to the Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences, Stanford, and the Stanford University Institute for International Studies Global Knowledge Design Laboratory and Rapid Enterprise Design Project, Stanford, Palo Alto, California, July 2002.

“Twenty-first Century Technology, Stone Age Anthropology: What Online Games Can Teach Us About Networked Social Interaction”, Chair, Great Ideas Seminar, sponsored by the UCLA Center for Governance, May 23, 2002.

“The Social Life of Education”, Chair, Great Ideas in the Social Sciences Seminar, sponsored by the UCLA Center for Governance, April 4, 2002.

As Good As It Gets to American Psycho: Hollywood’s Fascination with Psychopathology” UCLA’s Fifth Annual Review of Psychiatry. October 22, 2000.

“How Existing Studios Successfully Brand For The Web”, moderator and panelist, Animation Internet Component, The World Animation Celebration. June 2, 2000.

“TV And The Internet”, moderator and panelist, International Business Conference For Television Animation at The World Animation Celebration. June 1, 2000.

“Selling, Dealing, And Creating: The Help From Agents And Lawyers”, moderator and panelist, Sixth Annual Animation Expo, presented by International Animated Film Society, ASIFA-Hollywood. March 6, 1999.

“Education And Digital Mass Media”, lecture to Education Group of the International Interactive Communications Society, Los Angeles Chapter. July 21, 1998.

“Mission Valencia”, lecture to advanced animation class, California Institute Of The Arts, Valencia, California. March 11, 1998.

“How Do The Major Studios Achieve Success In The Theatrical Marketplace?”, moderator and panelist, World Summit For Feature Films And Visual Effects, World Animation Celebration. February 17, 1998.

“A Declaration Of Independence – The Call For Legislative Abolition Of Most Exclusivity Provisions In Employment Agreements In The Entertainment Industry”, lecture, Los Angeles Copyright Society. October 8, 1997.

“New Media Options And Concerns”, panelist, California Lawyers For The Arts’ Writer’s Seminar. June 21, 1997.

“Special Convergence Day At The Writers Guild”, panelist, Writers Guild Of America. May 17, 1997.

International Business Conference For Television Animation, Inaugural Host of Conference and Panel Moderator, First World Animation Celebration, Pasadena, California. March 25 and 26, 1997.

“Comics Today: They’re Not Just Funny Books”, lecturer, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Continuing Legal Education Presentation. June 3, 1995.

“Financing And Producing Interactive Entertainment,” panelist, Eighteenth Annual UCLA Entertainment Symposium, presented by the UCLA School of Law and the UCLA Entertainment Symposium Advisory Committee. February 5, 1994.

“New Technologies 101: A Practical Approach For Entertainment Attorneys”, lecturer, Los Angeles County Bar Association, Intellectual Property and Entertainment Law Sections. November 14, 1992.

Meeting of Society Of Philosophers At Work In The World Group, “Business Ethics”, presenter, Sixty-Fifth Annual Meeting, Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, San Francisco, CA. March 29, 1991.

Meeting of Society Of Philosophers At Work In The World Group, “Business Ethics”, presenter, Sixty-Third Annual Meeting, Pacific Division of the American Philosophical Association, Oakland, CA. March 24, 1989.

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Catalyst For The Arts