by Leslie Fields-Cruz Last week, two of my BPM colleagues and I, along with 1300+ other public media staffers, convened in San Diego for the PBS Annual Meeting. For those of you who don’t know, the PBS Annual Meeting screens trailers from the 2023/24 program pipeline and offers professional development workshops covering a…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz Before humans could read and write, cave paintings on the wall told our stories. I wonder if those ancient Griots were treated better than today’s Griots? Don’t get me wrong. Many of today’s writers have done quite well. Shonda Rhymes and Kenya Barris to name a few…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz As you might imagine, after last week’s spectacular PitchBLACK Forum & Awards program, my staff and I are wrapping up and recovering this week. Which is why our May newsletter will publish next Tuesday (5/9), not this week.

by Leslie Fields-Cruz This year’s PitchBLACK Forum & Awards program marks the sixth time Black Public Media has hosted this now annual celebration of Black media story tellers. What started out as a biennial event just for the nonfiction storytellers who participated in our 360 Incubator+ program has grown into…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz The stories of African griots have sustained West Africans for thousands of years. The stories of Middle Passage survivors, whose progeny endured centuries of enslavement, emboldened those who fought the American Civil War. And their stories inspired those who again demanded equal status under the law during…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz It’s April and we have AfroPoP and PitchBLACK on our minds all month!! Afropop: The Ultimate Cultural Exchange returns for its 15th season continuing to showcase the rich diversity of the African diaspora through art, music and culture. From the magnetic movements of dancers in Can Your…

Also, AfroPoP Season XV starts next Monday, April 3 by Leslie Fields-Cruz We recently confirmed that Brittany Luse, host of It’s Been a Minute, NPR’s show on culture and society, will join us at next month’s PitchBLACK Awards. She’ll conduct a fireside chat with our 2023 BPM Trailblazer, Yoruba Richen…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz It’s women’s history month! For Black and other women of color it’s an extra month, another 31 days, to further highlight our her-stories and accomplishments. For this edition of the Dispatch, BPM celebrates Black women makers who are releasing films on PBS this month. Short films by…

by Leslie Fields-Cruz After reading Addie Moorfoot’s article in Variety about the costs associated with running an awards season campaign, I have to ask myself, and our filmmakers, is it worth it? Now, I am not a fan of participation awards. As a former track athlete, I was very competitive…