Connections

Connecting our diverse community, off-air

Every year at this time, there is a growing buzz about which of the past year's films will receive honors at the annual Academy Awards ceremony next month.

Often, it seems, it is not always the big-budget productions that earned top dollar at the box office, but the smaller-scale, independently-produced films that generate the most audience reaction. Indeed, some of the most expressive correspondence we have received from our diverse audiences over the years has been in response to the award-winning films presented on such WHYY-TV programs as American Experience and P.O.V.

WHYY has a tradition of broadcasting programs that educate, entertain and inspire, and we are proud this month to present two new, locally-produced films which do just that. Joining the WHYY-TV lineup this month is the thought-provoking weekly film series Independent Lens, which launches with the film Maggie Growls, an enlightening portrait of long-time Delaware Valley resident Maggie Kuhn, whose social activism had a profound impact on the lives of people throughout our region and across the country.

Produced by Philadelphia filmmakers Barbara Attie (who, along with Martha Lubell made Daring to Resist, an award-winning film presented nationally by WHYY) and Janet Goldwater, Maggie Growls examines the life and legacy of this inspirational lady, who founded the Gray Panthers in 1970 after being forced to retire from a job she loved at age 65. Kuhn became a passionate advocate for older Americans, effecting monumental legislative change and helping to redefine the concept of what it means to grow old.

The tri-state region has always been home to many creative, industrious and compassionate people, and among them was Pierre S. du Pont, whose philanthropy is heralded in the new film A Separate Place. This film uses rich resource material housed at such cultural treasures as the Hagley Museum and Library in Wilmington, Delaware and moving interviews with former students and teachers to examine efforts by African-Americans to obtain quality education during the period when the state of Delaware mandated racial segregation in its schools.

Pivotal in this endeavor was Pierre S. du Pont, who, in the 1920s, donated more than $6 million to build 89 schools for the state's African-American community, which became centers for black education and pride during a difficult period in our region's history. The film also explores current efforts by black Delawarians to preserve these former schools as sites of African-American culture and heritage.

Like so many programs that we broadcast on WHYY-TV, these films raise various issues that compel us to learn more off-air, and, whenever possible, we take the opportunity to bring people together from across our region for meaningful discussions.

Last month, through our Wider Horizons service and in partnership with the Prince Music Theater in Philadelphia, WHYY invited the public to celebrate Maggie Kuhn's life at a special screening of the film, after which the audience discussed the many ways her spirit lives on with the filmmakers, local community leaders, social workers, doctors and other elder advocates in the Delaware Valley who are following in Kuhn's footsteps.

We also partnered last month with the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania, the Eastern Pennsylvania/Delaware Anti-Defamation League and the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition to host a screening and discussion around the powerful P.O.V. film Two Towns of Jasper. Taking a cue from one of the film's central themes, government officials, business and religious leaders and administrators from the non-profit educational communities came together in our Independence Foundation Civic Space to discuss the state of race relations in our region.

We always enjoy learning, through your many calls, letters and e-mails, which WHYY-TV and FM programs inspire you, but even more than that, we enjoy using these programs as a way to meet with you face-to-face to discuss the issues that affect all of us.

We promise to continue to use our on-air programming to open up lines of communication off-air with the people in our diverse communities, connecting each of us to the world's richest ideas and all of us to each other.

Best regards,
William J. Marrazzo
President and Chief Executive Officer