Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi
2017 Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients
For many years, the husband and wife team of Eric Cannon and Sue Kulinyi have been valuable participants in the costuming community. Eric and Sue are well known videographers who have made it their mission to make costumers onstage during costume competitions look good for future generations to enjoy, and to provide DVDs for participants to take home and show off mere hours after the convention has closed.
As official videographers to many costuming conventions, Eric and Sue usually drive their own equipment to convention sites, spend considerable time setting up multiple cameras, and attend long technical rehearsals, because they know how important quality video recordings are to costumers as a record of their performances.
Eric and Sue are also active in procuring old videos of past convention masquerades. They have preserved this footage, and make it available through their company, Rare Recorded Videos. Given the frailty of video tape, much of our costuming past was in danger of being lost forever had it not been for their efforts to collect and preserve this footage and donate copies to the ICG Kennedy Archives.
In 2014, Eric undertook to further preserve our history by lobbying the Library of Congress to accept our masquerade DVDs into their archive. Because of his efforts, costuming in all its forms has been recognized as a legitimate art form that is worthy of preservation.
Sue sometimes steps in as Stage Manager, a role that includes organizing and coordinating the operation of the main stage, and the operation of lighting and sound for the masquerade contestants. Eric occasionally finds time to participate in masquerades, sitting in the audience in costume to record, then running backstage at the last minute to join a costume group, and carefully resuming his position behind the camera when the entry is finished.
Eric and Sue have made major contributions to the continuation of costuming as an art form with consummate professionalism and good humour.
(View the 2017 LAA group portrait.)
