Jacob Robert van Winkle is a producer, researcher, and organizer based in New York City. Grounded in public policy, strategic communications, and media research, their work centers on one question: what actually moves people, and why?
They are currently producing BIOADAPTING, a sci-fi play integrating live AI, holographic staging, and digital twin illusion, developed in partnership with MIT, the New Museum, and the University of Chicago. The production premiered in 2023 and is currently in development toward Broadway, with coverage from The New York Times, Forbes, and NPR.
Jacob has led operations for two of the country's most prominent independent film festivals, serving as Operations Manager at Sundance and Technical Operations Manager at Tribeca. They also served as Director of Programming for MIX NYC, one of the longest-running queer experimental film festivals in the world. Through Who's Cookin' Productions, they have produced work for Hearst, PBS, and Cosmopolitan, as well as performances at the Guggenheim through Works & Process.
Their academic work connects communication, technology, and public life. At Baruch College (CUNY), where they earned their MPA, their research examined messaging in short-form video, grounded in framing theory and the Elaboration Likelihood Model. They have taught and designed curriculum in strategic communications and philanthropy, and contributed to faculty-led research on media trust and public engagement.
They founded NYOFF, a nonprofit film fund supporting independent short filmmakers in New York, with a focus on local, queer, BIPOC, and women artists.