Ariel Maria Dougherty (born May 21, 1947) is an American independent film maker, feminist media advocate and activist.
[1] In recent years she has written extensively about the intersections of women's rights and media justice and the need for increased support for both.
[2] At the start of 1972 Paige and Dougherty unified their youth film teaching work with their feminist media vision, incorporating Women Make Movies as an education, not-for-profit organization.
They established a community-based workshop for women of all ages in the racially and economically mixed Chelsea neighborhood in New York City.
[3] Under Dougherty's leadership WMM's carriage hay-loft became a meeting hub for filmmakers from other parts of the US and the globe traveling through NYC.
Coordinated with a sister conference in LA, numerous initiatives emerged: The National Women's Film Circuit;[4] International videoletters;[5] and a womanifesto for feminist filmmaking.
They stepped down as co-directors, bravely as feminist leadership of the period encouraged, handing the reigns of WMM over to the filmmakers they had trained and engaged.
[9] In 1987 Dougherty moved to Eastern Long Island where she became development director at Local TV, the public-access television channel of East Hampton, New York.
[16] Dougherty is presently centering her efforts on girl/women/lesbian film teaching organizations and their necessity in changing the real picture of women in social, political and economic environments.