The KUOW Program Venture Fund (PVF) provides special support for staff and independent reporters and producers to develop new programming focused on the Puget Sound region. Programs funded by the PVF can be a series of feature reports, documentaries or a variety of short audio pieces. The PVF accepts project proposals from producers and reporters twice a year.
Grants Awarded For Radio Projects
The KUOW Program Venture Fund has awarded grants to fund four new radio productions. The diverse mix of projects includes series about addiction and recovery in native communities, storytelling in Seattle, the Alaskan Way Viaduct and highlighted moments in Pacific Northwest history. The projects will be produced in 2010–2011 and will air on KUOW.
This NOT Just In: Audible Moments In Northwest History
Grantee: Feliks Banel
"This NOT Just In: Audible Moments from Northwest History" is a three–episode series of three–minute weekly features highlighting important people and events from Pacific Northwest history, placing them in contemporary context. Using narration, vintage audio and interviews with living witnesses, "This NOT Just In" will cover moments from history such as the 1971 D.B. Cooper hijacking, the 2001 Nisqually earthquake and VE Day in 1945.
Feliks Banel is a broadcast historian, media producer and communications consultant. He was deputy director of Seattle's Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) for seven years, and has produced local radio and Emmy–nominated TV programs. Since 2000, Feliks has produced and directed the annual live holiday radio play now known as Seattle Radio Theatre, as well as a series of other holiday radio and TV broadcasts. He's also led panel discussions and walking tours; has lectured about radio history; and written on media, history and culture for Crosscut.com and seattlepi.com.
A Guide To Visitors: Storytelling In Seattle
Grantee: Jeannie Yandel
Seattle has been home to a live storytelling series for more than seven years. A Guide to Visitors is modeled after The Moth from the Public Radio Exchange. All of the stories have been recorded, and those recordings will be used to create 8 hour–long shows comprised of first–person, nonfiction stories — all told by people who live in the Seattle area.
Jeannie Yandel has been at KUOW since 2001. She's worked on nearly every show KUOW produces (including one it doesn't produce anymore). Since 2002, Jeannie has managed the local story telling organization A Guide to Visitors. She got into public radio and live storytelling events for the same reason — she has always, always been a sucker for a good story.
The Viaduct
Grantee: Dominic Black
Once upon a time The Alaskan Way Viaduct was a solution rather than a problem. As Seattle considers replacement of the viaduct, this four–part documentary will examine why it was built, how it was built and what it represented to a city that was changing radically in the years after World War II. It's a largely untold story that is strangely familiar. Expect politics, infighting, competing interests, mischief, great technical expertise and concrete.
Dominic Black is the founder of Glass Island Media, an independent production company based in Seattle. He spent ten years working for the BBC as a documentary maker before working for two years with KUOW/Puget Sound Public Radio. Born on the North Coast of Ireland, his work has spanned a huge range of subject areas, from the history of sarcasm to the role of women in country music.
Addicted On The Rez
Grantee: Kristen Millares Young
Though Puget Sound tribes are scattered amongst urban communities, feelings of isolation and separation reign over reservation youth. For recovering addicts, leaving the reservation after rehab is often not an option. This feature story will examine the response of Native spiritual and community leaders who are fighting to take back their youth from burned out futures. Using canoe races, potluck dancing and sweat lodge ceremonies, they are trying to reestablish the cultural and spiritual core in young people recovering from addiction.
Kristen Millares Young is a cofounder of InvestigateWest, a nonprofit journalism center that produces in–depth multimedia reports about the environment, public health and social justice. As a Seattle Post–Intelligencer journalist, Kristen uncovered Port of Seattle waste and corruption that cost taxpayers millions of dollars, exposing cronyism that became the focus of an ongoing federal criminal investigation.
The KUOW Program Venture Fund was initiated in 2003 by a key gift from Paul and Laurie Ahern, long–time friends to KUOW. They encourage other KUOW members and friends to lend their financial support to this valuable and innovative program initiative. The more financial support provided to the Program Venture Fund, the more new voices and stories from our region can be heard.
Get involved in this exciting and important program initiative:
- If you are a KUOW member – make a special gift this year in addition to your regular annual membership and designate that gift to the KUOW Program Venture Fund.
- Become a new KUOW member – by designating your first gift to KUOW to the Program Venture Fund.
To support KUOW's Program Venture Fund please contact Ian Carrick at 
or call 206.897.1488. Thank you for your interest and support.
