Anthony Arrien is a 68 year old transgender man who has facilitated The LOFT’s adult transgender peer support group twice per month for several years. He has done his presentation "The Incomplete Guide to Trans and Non Binary Identities" at The LOFT's Hudson Valley Trans Forum, The Philadelphia Transgender Wellness Conference, TransLives: in Connecticut, PrideWorks, local library programs and for medical and mental health associations. He is a board member of GLSEN Lower Hudson Valley, is active in PFLAG Westchester Putnam Sub-Chapter and is chair of the LGBTQIA Social Justice Team at Community Unitarian Universalist Congregation in White Plains. He is also a filmmaker who produces PSA's and has done legislative visits for LGBTQ advocacy in New York State.
Anthony is a full time employee of the Town of Putnam Valley, NY managing their government and educational access TV channels on the Altice cable system. In his college years he studied physics and astronomy and graduated from University of Arizona after studying for a time at Boston University. Upon receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree, he studied film directing in the Columbia University Graduate School of the Arts to pursue a career in documentary film making. He spent 25 years as a union Gaffer in NABET Local 15 and later IATSE Local 52 working in the greater New York area film industry. He has operated his own production company, Brain Trust Productions, Inc. since February 1998, doing video production and post production.
He has been very active in nonprofit organizations all his life, first as president of the Springfield Telescope Makers, Inc., Chair of the North East Region of the Astronomical League, Chair of Putnam Valley Arts, and has more recently been Chair of the Alliance for Community Media of New York and on the board of the Alliance for Community Media North East Region for over ten years. He has worked in public policy for the Alliance for Community Media, and was the recipient of the 2017 Chuck Sherwood Leadership Award of the ACM North East Region for his public policy work for Public Educational and Government Access Television.
In addition to being a filmmaker, Anthony is also an artist and plein air landscape painter who works in oils on linen. He often travels to the Southwest to paint desert landscapes. Closer to home, he is a member of the Lower Hudson Valley Plein Air Painters. For physical recreation, he enjoys ice skating and roller skating year-round and has taken a new interest in ballroom dancing.