Minority consortia see CPB study as occasion for change
CPB will present findings next month from an analysis of the system’s minority organizations and how the system can improve its work for underserved audiences.
Hired by CPB, the Teleos Leadership Institute, a Philadelphia-based organizational consulting firm, interviewed leaders from the five public TV minority consortia and from minority radio stations, as well as execs at national pubcasting organizations and grantmaking groups.
Minority-group leaders hope the project will result in more funding and greater exposure for their offerings. CPB’s funding of the five consortia, for example, has remained flat at $1 million a year for more than a decade, according to consortia execs.
The groups have worked to get the most out of their projects through collaborative efforts such as Unnatural Causes, a health doc series that debuted in March [Current, March 24]. They’ve also boosted their online offerings on sites such as blackpublicmedia.org. But such steps to increase services only get you so far, say execs.
“In the 10 years of Latino Public Broadcasting, we’ve seen a nearly 10-fold increase in proposals, but our funding has stayed flat,” says Patricia Boero, executive director.
Boero wants to see new national PBS series consisting of films on issues of interest to minority audiences. The groups now distribute films primarily through P.O.V. and other national shows, as well as through American Public Television.
“Unless we have an ongoing presence, we have to reinvent the wheel every time we present a program,” she says.
CPB will present the findings to stakeholders in late July.
Web page posted July 1, 2008
Copyright 2008 by Current LLC
