WQED suspends youth media academy, lays off staff
WQED Film Academy
Film Academy students participate in an ice-breaking exercise during the first week of the fall 2021 session.
WQED in Pittsburgh, Pa., has suspended The Creator Academy, a youth media education program, as the station navigates “unprecedented threats to federal funding for the arts, education, and public broadcasting,” CEO Jason Jedlinski confirmed to Current in an email.
Five employees working with the academy were laid off, including four full-time staff and one part-time staffer, Jedlinski wrote.
“We have a fiduciary duty to adapt our programs to align with funding realities, community impact, and WQED’s long-term sustainability,” the station said in a post on its website Thursday. “We must be prudent with our resources while various legal challenges work through the courts.”
WQED acquired the program in 2022. It taught skills in storytelling, camera, audio, lighting and editing and has been “a companion to our Education team, whose programs directly engage nearly 40,000 children per year across western Pennsylvania,” Jedlinski wrote.
“We hope to resume youth media education as we get more clarity about past and future sources of funding,” he said.
