Pawan SharmaCreative direction & consulting
Creative practice and consulting since 2014Minneapolis–Saint Paul

Creative director
and consultant.

I’m Pawan Sharma. Over the past twelve years, I have directed films, researched audiences, developed public programs, and advised organizations on how to communicate their work.

My experience includes municipal technology at Smart City Corporation, streaming audience research at the University of Minnesota, and creative consulting with organizations in the United States, India, Canada, Germany, and the Netherlands. I work on the research and planning behind a project as well as the images, films, and material an audience eventually sees.

View my work
Moving Tracts exhibition with framed photographs, printed stories, and objectsMoving Tracts Exhibition and digital storytellingA participant making a sound through texture during the Sound Stories projectSound Stories Audiovisual productionA visitor looking at photographs in an Amsterdam galleryAmsterdam Creative consulting and audience experience
4-person team

Led policy researchers and program staff at Smart City Corporation.

~$1.5M in program funding

Supported SEWA initiatives through program development and implementation coordination.

15+ public programs

Co-led exhibitions, screenings, workshops, and conversations through Memory, Movement, Montage.

01 / Selected projects

Consulting, research,
and creative work

These projects show the range of my responsibilities, from vendor evaluation and audience analysis to documentary direction and exhibition design. Each case explains the assignment, my contribution, and the work delivered.

Extraordinary Elsewhere documentary title frame
Rochester Art Center / 2025–2026

Extraordinary Elsewhere

I directed a documentary about nine immigrant artists for the center’s exhibition, with interviews by Rituparna Rana.

View the project

02 / Full project index

Organizations
and assignments

The complete selection includes my consulting in Berlin and Amsterdam, media collaboration research in India and Canada, and council-related work delivered through institutional and nonprofit partners.

03 / About Pawan

My background
and experience

Pawan Sharma presenting Moving Tracts to a public audience
Presenting Moving Tracts at the University of Minnesota.

I began making films in my home region in central India. My first short fiction film, The Impure Redemption, was made in Malwi with people from the region. Working in a local language made collaboration and audience context part of the production from the beginning.

My work later expanded into media production in Mumbai, public programs, and municipal technology. At Smart City Corporation, I evaluated vendor proposals and worked on the implementation and communication of services. With organizations such as SEWA-AIFW and Maji Ya Chai, I have combined policy and program advice with films and digital content.

Since 2019, my work at the University of Minnesota has focused on audiences, regional media production, and the effects of platforms and emerging technologies. Alongside that research, I have continued to direct documentaries, develop exhibitions, run The Elsewhere Lab, and work with cultural organizations internationally.

Today, I bring that experience to projects that need both research and creative direction. I can develop the brief, work with the people responsible for the program or product, and stay involved through production and presentation.

Read my résumé

Research and strategy

Audience surveys, qualitative interviews, quantitative analysis, platform research, policy analysis, and recommendations.

Creative production

Documentary direction, visual narratives, photography, audiovisual work, exhibitions, and content for web and social platforms.

Program leadership

Team coordination, vendor evaluation, implementation planning, grants, budgets, institutional partnerships, and public programming.