Funding, training and awards in public broadcasting

Public TV’s station associations will hold joint and separate meetings Aug. 3-6 in New York City. The Affinity Group Coalition (itself a grouping of associations) will meet Aug. 3-4 at the Marriott East Side Hotel, followed by joint meetings between the AGC council and the board of the National Educational Telecommunications Association (NETA), Aug. 4-5, and the NETA Board, Aug. 5-6. Schedule and more information are online. Registration deadline: July 13.

APT Fall Marketplace will preview nearly 100 new programs in November. Online registration opens June 22 for American Public Television's annual program market, Nov. 11-14 at Sanibel Harbour in southwest Florida near Fort Myers. It's "the only public television meeting which focuses solely on content" and it offers two full days of program screenings. Save $100 by registering by Oct. 13. More info online.

Iowa DTV Symposium takes a hiatus this year. The annual technical event won't meet in 2009 after 14 editions because of the limping economy. The sponsor, Iowa Public Television, will consider returning in 2010.

The Sigma Delta Chi Foundation wants nominations for its Eugene S. Pulliam First Amendment Award. Deadline: July 1. The foundation, affiliated with the Society of Professional Journalists, said nominations are open to any person or group in the country responsible for substantial efforts on behalf of free speech and other civil liberties. Details here. SPJ’s convention comes to Indianapolis, home of the late newspaper publisher Pulliam, Aug. 27-30.

What are the Europeans doing in radio feature production? Hear selections from the International Features Conference in Dublin. Audio courtesy of Third Coast International Audio Festival, Chicago.

Next year's PBS Showcase will be held in Austin, Texas. The network announced plans for the annual event Saturday through Wednesday, April 17-20, 2010, at the Hilton Austin. For more information as the date approaches, check: conferences.pbs.org.

NEH set Aug. 26 as its America's Media Makers grant application deadline. The National Endowment for the Humanities said it will accept proposals for TV, radio and digital media projects that explore significant events, figures or developments in the humanities in creative and new ways." NEH urged applicants to consider using multiple formats and to design projects to promote dialogue and learning. Production grant proposals can cover any phase of production. NEH also gives development grants that enable producers to collaborate with scholars and refine ideas in the humanities.Details are at Grants.gov. NEH urged applicants not to wait until the deadline day to submit their proposals because Grants.gov has been overloaded on occasion. The centralized federal opportunities office received more than twice as many calls in March as in December and online traffic also more than doubled, Grants.gov says. NEH e-mail: publicpgms@neh.gov.Phone: 202-606-8269.

This year's World Congress of Science and Factual Producers will be held Dec. 1-4 in Melbourne, Australia. The congress, hosted this year by Australian Broadcasting Corp., includes workshops, networking events, pitch sessions, Meet the Commissioning Editor sessions and panels. Last year’s sold-out event in Florence, Italy, attracted 600 from 26 countries, with a claimed ratio of two producers for every broadcaster. Web: wcsfp.com.

Current offers online feed of pubcasting calendar. Readers can now automatically integrate a calendar of public broadcasting’s national events into their own online calendars. Current and the National Educational Telecommunications Association will compile the calendar and offer it on their websites. Current posts it at Current.org/calendar. ¶ If you use Apple’s iCal, Google Calendar or other compatible personal calendars, you can subscribe to an up-to-date feed that coexists with events in your own calendar. Separate feeds of Current publication dates also is available.

Updated June 16, 2009
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Events in public broadcasting