Becoming Helen Keller: Producers
The Becoming Helen Keller project has received a major grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, and a commmitment to broadcast the finished work in the award winning PBS series American Masters. To find out more about what's been accomplished, and how to help us finish the project, go to our SUPPORT page. With your help, we can reclaim Helen Keller's remarkable story!
Straight Ahead Pictures (SAP)
A non-profit organization that creates innovative media projects and educational forums using history to foster community dialogue about contemporary social issues. Founded in 1989 by Laurie Block and her long-time partner, John Crowley, the organization has helped create more than 25 history documentary film projects, including two nominated for Academy Awards, one a Robert Kennedy Social Justice Award for Beyond Affliction: The Disability History Project. Nearly all of SAP’s original work relates to the cultural history of the body, especially the disability experience. SAP is the founder of The Disability History Museum, a longstanding web based resource about the history of people with disabilities. In 2015 the site averaged 12,000 unique visitors monthly.
American Masters
A series of award-winning primetime specials examining the lives, works, and creative processes of our most outstanding cultural artists. Produced by Thirteen / WNET for national public television, the series celebrates and explores creativity in America. Consisting of more than 250 hours of programming to date, American Masters film library documents the role important individuals, groups, and movements have played in the formation of our national cultural identity. The series has received 27 Emmys, three Oscar nominations, four Peabody Awards, a Grammy Award and 19 Cine Golden Eagles. American Masters is made possible by the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Additional funding for American Masters is provided by Rosalind P. Walter, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Jack Rudin, Rolf and Elizabeth Rosenthal, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, the Michael and Helen Schaffer Foundation, and public television viewers.
Michael Kantor, Co-Executive Producer has been a long-time producer and filmmaker for PBS who has also worked on programs for HBO and other cable networks. Kantor’s six-part series Broadway: The American Musical was hosted by Julie Andrews and won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series. His Emmy-nominated series Make ‘Em Laugh: The Funny Business of America was hosted by Billy Crystal and narrated by Amy Sedaris. Kantor has produced two programs for WNET’s Great Performances series, including Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy, which was narrated by Joel Grey and won a 2014 Peabody Award.
WETA Washington, D.C.
The third-largest producing station for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS.) Over the years, WETA has co-produced and presented a number of landmark television series from Ken Burns, including The War, JAZZ, The Civil War, and Baseball. WETA produces the popular news and public affairs programs The News Hour with Jim Lehrer, Washington Week with Gwen Ifill and National Journal. WETA is also the producing station for the entertainment series In Performance at the White House and performance specials such as A Capitol Fourth. Over the past 40 years, WETA’s TV and radio programs have received numerous honors and awards.
Dalton Delan, Co-Executive Producer has been executive vice president and chief programming officer of WETA since 1998. He directs WETA’s national and local production departments, creating documentary, performance, cultural, news and public affairs programming, including high-definition television. His responsibilities also include overseeing station relations and syndication for WETA productions to the nearly 350 PBS stations across the country.
Funders
Research & Development
Alabama Humanities Foundation, Massachusetts Humanities Foundation
Major Production Funding
National Endowment for the Humanities
American Masters
Additional Funding
National Endowment for the Arts
Selis Foundation
