CET and ThinkTV: Highlights from a Tough Year
This year has been tough for everyone, but at CET and ThinkTV – as your local PBS stations – we’ve worked diligently to serve you, your family and our community. We’ve all had to face many challenges this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but we were able to rise up to make this year one of the best yet! Here’s just a snapshot of what your support has allowed us to do:
Education
We were able to support our students, parents and educators by providing educational resources to help with the shift to virtual learning. During the stay-at-home orders, we adjusted our broadcast schedule to serve students of all ages, provided parents with educational-resource emails, and stood behind our educators with both educational content as well as professional workshops focused on technology and remote teaching.
With summer camps being largely cancelled this year, we also produced three fun and educational week-long summer camps in partnership with The Dayton Metro Library, Five Rivers MetroParks, Dayton International Peace Museum, PNC, Fred Rogers’ Productions, PBS Kids’ Nature Cat, Boonshoft Museum of Discovery, the Dayton Art Institute, Dayton History’s Carillon Park, and the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. Those camps are still available online at https://thinktv.org/camp/.
Also, during the 2020 Election, we created a resource hub parents could use to talk to their children about the voting process and what it means to live in a democracy. You can view that collection here: https://thinktv.org/kids-family/election-connection/.
Local Productions
This year we filmed, produced and released two documentaries, The Memphis Belle: Her Final Mission and the first part of The Dayton Arcade: Waking the Giant.
The Memphis Belle: Her Final Mission tells the story of the iconic B-17 bomber plane and the two teams of men who led her in her journey – the team who flew her into combat 75 years ago and the team who oversaw her recent restoration at the National Museum of the United States Air Force. The film is now available to stream with the PBS Video App or online here: https://video.thinktv.org/video/memphis-belle-the-final-mission-b9pzoh/.
The Dayton Arcade: Waking The Giant follows the story of the renovation and reopening of this historic Arcade building in Dayton, Ohio. The first part of this three-part documentary series tells the story of the history of the Arcade and highlights where the project is heading. Leading urban redevelopment expert Bruce Katz, calls the Dayton Arcade, “The most transformative project in America.” Watch the first segment here and expect the other parts to come in 2021: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tmZFgoZNOU&t=253s.
Our other local productions The Art Show and SHOWCASE with Barbara Kellar have also had a great year. From major guests to socially-distanced interviews to awesome performances to digital-first segments, you can learn more about these shows at https://thinktv.org/TheArtShow/ and https://www.cetconnect.org/showcase/.
Digital Series and Collections
Thanks to your support we were able to debut Art in Isolation and Hobby Hunting, two digital projects with roots in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Art in Isolation, a digital sub-series of The Art Show, explored how artists – and their art-forms – were impacted by the COVID-19 and how they adapted. Watch the full collection at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsFT2XrFTI6tMTrudeMh0_IVVlFy_7bYp.
Hobby Hunting is a collection of articles and videos highlighting activities you can do from the comfort of your home. Segments, which are now rolling out in season, feature activities like painting a picture of your pet, decorating cookies, songwriting, herb gardening, pumpkin decorating, fall craft making and so much more! This series was a nationwide hit thanks to partnerships with CREATE and PBS and will continue in 2021. Check it out: https://thinktv.org/hobbyhunting/.
In addition to our efforts on-air and online, we hosted virtual events, moved our Action Auction to a digital-first format, and found other ways to adapt to the needs of our community and the needs of ours station. As your local PBS station, we thank you for your ongoing support. If you would like to make a donation or become a sustaining member, please visit https://thinktv.secureallegiance.com/wptd/WebModule/Donate.aspx?P=WEBNONPLG&PAGETYPE=PLG&CHECK=yWaYZxSWHb0y7isJLG1Y7q1gzMC6uhq5nDjkJobrCdg%3d. You can also select us as your charity of choice on Amazon Smile or Kroger Community Rewards. You can find us on Amazon Smile by searching for Greater Dayton Public Television Inc. in Dayton or Greater Cincinnati Television Educational Foundation in Cincinnati. On Kroger Community Rewards, please search for CET.
