Current (https://current.org/project-category/event-in-person/page/8/)
WQPT created the Embracing our Military initiative in 2013 to raise awareness of issues important to the military community. In 2017, they were able to bring “The Wall That Heals” — a 250-foot replica of the Vietnam Memorial plus an education center – to the Quad Cities area where they staged community engagement and educational events in conjunction with its visit.
Over a decade ago, we launched several local initiatives that are still paying dividends: Musicians On Call, that sends local artists and guides to the bedsides of hospital patients. Friday Free at Noon concerts: we are the 500-show mark with hundreds attending each week. And Finally, our biggest, our summer XPoNential Music Festival with 30 bands over 3 days along the Delaware River waterfront in New Jersey. We call it a gathering of the tribe.
WYPR’s Community Advisory Board established an initiative – dubbed Ascertainment – to bring community organizations into the station to teach station staff about their work. Each month 2-4 organizations, usually non-profits, present to the station’s producers and reporters, helping build a contact base the reporters and producers can use when working on stories or ideas for future stories based on what is happening in the surrounding communities. The program recently expanded to include Outreach back to the organizations.
Radio Milwaukee has the mission to foster community engagement through music and stories. A pillar of this mission is to provide a platform for local musicians to share their work with an engaged and supportive listener base. Key pieces: 414 Music Live a weekly live performance by local artists in front of a live audience, that is broadcast and streamed live; the annual Radio Milwaukee Music Awards; and 414music.fm, an HD channel and digital stream broadcasting only Milwaukee music.
Radio Milwaukee believes music is a powerful force to bring people together – a belief that drives their mission to utilize music to connect diverse audiences. In 2016, they launched Band Together to act on that belief, creating a unique evening of music and food, with diverse, live music – featuring four local bands from four genres – and a variety of ethnic appetizers from local restaurants. Between bands, the station puts on storytelling performances about race and people coming together.
The ValleyPBS Family Circle program is a $10 membership that allows families to support their local PBS station and receive a newsletter, discounts on events, access to Family Circle events and other benefits. The program added over 200 member-families to the PBS network and has hosted over 48 events since 2013.
WILL has been partnering with local agencies to produce content related to gun violence. We are producing radio segments, community engagement, agency meetings, and content for other platforms. Plans are now being developed to present a Town-Hall style meeting to be televised.
The Baltimore Band Block Party is WTMD’s signature fund-raiser. Each year, 15-20 local bands are given the tools to raise money for WTMD in the form of ticket sales and donations. The station provides exposure to these local bands by putting them in heavy rotation. This on-air support builds familiarity among our listeners. At the end of three weeks the station holds a BBBP concert…the top ten fund raising bands play live with the top three winning substantial prizes.
North Country at Work is a multiplatform project exploring the “history of work” through photographs stored in libraries, historical associations, museums and residents’ homes. We go community by community, to scan photographs and record stories about work. We are building a software platform for archival materials that will be searchable and interactive, encouraging exploration and discovery. We will share the software platform with other stations to use for their own multimedia projects.
KPCC organizes in-person events to connect their staff with their listeners. Events are also broadcasted live for a digital audience.
Policy and the Pint is a joint venture that provokes conversations about public policy in Minnesota and the rest of the country.
As a kid, I used to watch PBS late night programming in which grungy music shows would come on. I took that memory and tried adapting it to our community. We partner with a great dive bar to create a new show that brings local area talent “to the masses” at a state-wide level. The first pilot aired in December and have been shooting episodes for the past few months with the first season set for the first of September.
Every Tuesday night Radio Boise hosts national, regional or local bands at Neurolux, Boise’s most popular music venue which donates 20% of drink sales to the station. The event features a Radio Boise DJ who spins before and after each show, promoting the station. Each show is broadcast live. The goal is to raise awareness about Radio Boise and raise funds, but also to provide a strong off-night show in the Boise market for emerging touring bands and indie headliners.
Mug Stops is an event series where listeners are invited to have coffee with CVE and purchase $10 mugs to donate to the station. The fundraiser events bring the community and the station closer together, while promoting WCVE.
KVIE has been doing a live televised art auction (245 plus pieces over 3 days) for over 30 years. To support all the artists who donate work for the auction, we decided to open an art gallery in our station. We remodeled unused lobby space. Artists now show and sell work through 6 exhibitions each year. The gallery, open Mon- Fri, requires no additional staffing.
The WEDU Be More Awards started 12 years ago as a seasonal initiative to honor nonprofits and volunteers in West Central Florida and was well received, being dubbed the “Academy Awards for Nonprofits” by the Tampa Bay Times. About 5 years ago, WEDU turned the project into an annual initiative that has since grown dramatically — from approximately 40 participating nonprofit organizations to more than 140. This showing has enabled WEDU to become the media branch of the local nonprofit community.
In July 2017 WCNY partnered with The Literacy Coalition of Onondaga County, and the Onondaga County Public Library to present the annual Summer Learning Day. The event focused on engaging the community to make summer a season of learning and had the theme “Dive into Summer with Splash & Bubbles,” a new PBS Kids show. Nearly 2000 people turned out for the event, 4X the 2016 attendance. Using PBS characters combined with many other activities was the key to success.