CTSCC Activities Plan and Budget FY 07-08
Entering into fiscal year 2007-2008, Community Television of Santa Cruz County is in its second decade of existence, and continues to prosper given the ongoing support it receives from our local governments, members and the community at large. In the past 12 years, CTSCC is pleased to have established itself as an essential source of information by and for the local community as well as an unparalleled resource for public, educational and government television programming. CTSCC continues into its second decade in sound fiscal health striving to build upon its many successes while continually looking for new opportunities for growth and community building.
Programming
Community Television of Santa Cruz County will continue to cablecast programming 24 hours per day, seven days per week—for a total of 504 hours of programming weekly. None of Community Television's channels is ever "off the air."
CTSCC is comprised of three channels on the Comcast cable system and three directly corresponding channels on Charter Cable: Educational/Government/ Access Comcast Channel 25/Charter Cable 71, Government/Educational Access Comcast Channel 26/Charter 72, and Public Access Comcast Channel 27/Charter 73. (CTSCC has a separate contract with the City of Watsonville and provides some government and education content for Channel 70 in Capitola and Watsonville.)
CTSCC’s schedule includes more than 204 hours per week on Channels 25/71 and 26/72 of educational and government access programming produced and/or acquired by CTSCC. This programming includes videos from the Californian Department of Public Health, Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (Fighting Drug Victimization), the U.S. Dept of Education (Successful Teaching Practices in Action), The US Army (Army Newswatch), and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the US Department of Health and Human Services (The Road to Recovery). We will also continue to run updates on the spate of anti-public access/anti-local franchise legislation and how it adversely affects CTSCC, local governments and therefore our community.
The bulk of Government programming on our channels will continue to include coverage of the local city council meetings (Santa Cruz, Capitola, Scotts Valley, Watsonville), Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors meetings, Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission meetings, Santa Cruz Metro Transit District meetings, and school board meetings for the Pajaro Valley Unified School District. We will also continue to cablecast programs that put local residents in touch with issues on a state and national level. Focus with Congressman Sam Farr, Capitola Focus with Joe Simitian, and the Leon Panetta lecture series all fall into this category.
Educational programming on CTSCC will continue to include University of California Television (UCTV), Classic Arts, Cabrillo College Telecourses, Cable in the Classroom, and Total Math Live produced by the Monterey County Office of Education. We also will continue to run a number of programs that focus on topics of local interest. Programs like Latinos Al Dia, Community Express, Earthvision International Film Festival, Temple Beth El Oral History, Davenport Oral History, Book TV, and the Reel Work Labor Film Festival all fall into this category. We will also be cablecasting the Producers’ Showcase, a program which features the works of local professional filmmakers. CTSCC will also continue to give cable subscribers access to independent new media with programs like Democracy Now! and FSTV.
The Public Access channel 27/73 features more than 115 hours per week (including repeats) of programming produced by independent community producers. These producers utilize the staff, volunteers, equipment and/or other resources of CTSCC to produce their programs. The focus of these programs range from Public Affairs (Voices, Eco Review, Voices from the Village), to the arts (SoWat TV), to live entertainment (The Idle Hands Show, Look Mom I’m on TV). Several of these programs are produced live in our studio.
CTSCC’s Community Calendar appears on each of the three channels, providing information to the community on behalf of local non-profit, educational, government and religious organizations. This information runs each day at 10:30AM on 27/73, Mon – Friday at 5PM on 27/73. Mon – Fri at noon on 26/72. The calendar also appears in-between programs on each channel 24 hours a day.
Training
Throughout the year, CTSCC will offer a variety of training courses designed to provide interested community members with all the skills and knowledge they need to be able to produce their own television program or video project. More specifically, CTSCC will conduct approximately 20-23 training sessions per month or about 230 annually. Please see our attached training calendar for a typical listing of when classes are offered. (Those noted below by an * are offered by appointment only.)
Training Topics Include:
General Orientation
Producer's Certification
Basic Field Camera (Panasonic & GL-2)
Camera Theory and Techniques
Basic Linear Video Editing (Analog)*
Advanced Linear Video Editing (Analog A/B Roll)*
Basic Non-Linear Editing (KRON)*
Final Cut Pro Basics (Digital Editing)
i Movie Basics (Digital Editing)
Studio Series: Camera, Audio, Director, Character Generator, Lighting
Field Lighting
Multi-Camera Field Production (Flypack)
Advance Character Generator
Interviewing Techniques
CTSCC will also offer additional classes tailored to the needs of specific groups and to the general public. CTSCC will offer at least 4 classes to residents in Watsonville, with two of the classes being taught in Spanish. Topics will include:
Orientation/ Basic Field Camera
Producer’s Certification
In addition, we will offer classes to non-members through the Santa Cruz City Parks and Recreation Department. Topics will include:
Studio Production (Offered through Parks and Recreation)
Getting the Most from your Digital Camcorder (Offered through Parks and Recreation)
CTSCC continues to offer an educational access program, training groups of students in field camera and editing for school projects.
CTSCC also offers the following training classes to employees of any governmental entity with whom we have a working agreement: Santa Cruz County, City of Santa Cruz, City of Capitola, City of Scotts Valley and City of Watsonville upon request:
Video Production Orientation: An overview of what is involved in producing a video through CTSCC. A tour of the facility and viewing of sample government access videos is included.
Video Producer's Certification: Learning how to produce a short video using CTSCC's facilities. The class covers thinking visually, submitting program proposals, budgeting projects, setting realistic timelines, story boarding, CTSCC's equipment checkout procedure, using talent release forms, and recruiting or contracting for a production team. Examples of government access productions are shown.
Shooting Video in the Field: Learning how to use CTSCC's field cameras,
tripods, microphones and accessories to shoot a video. Class includes instruction on equipment safety and field techniques. Participants check out video equipment, shoot footage and then critique their work with the CTSCC instructor.
Basic Video Editing: Learning how to use CTSCC's basic video editing suite. Class includes instruction on adding music to footage, doing voice-overs, using basic special effects between shots, and adding titles.
Making a Public Service Announcement/Pre-Production to Editing: Training in how to write a script, plan locations, and use CTSCC’s camera equipment to tape a practice Public Service Announcement. With the instructor's assistance, students edit and refine their practice video.
Other CTSCC Activities and Resources
Organizational
Each year at CTSCC’s annual retreat, the CTSCC Board of Directors and staff mutually establish organizational goals for the upcoming fiscal year. The three primary goals identified for next fiscal year are:
1) Expand Public Affairs Programming- CTSCC will expand production of public affairs programming by increasing production of the existing Community Express program and by exploring the development and implementation of a regularly produced Santa Cruz County Video Magazine. During the course of the FY, CTSCC intends to produce a new Community Express show in the studio every 4-6 weeks. This talk show will focus on topics of interest to residents of Santa Cruz County in a talk show format with guests from the community. We also hope to put a video magazine into regular production. The video magazine will feature mini-documentaries focusing on the richness of life in Santa Cruz County. A pilot for this program should be completed early in the FY.
2) Expand Ties With Santa Cruz County Educational Community - CTSCC will expand ties with the Santa Cruz County Educational community by launching several initiatives designed to increase our interaction and involvement with schools. We will actively seek to acquire existing video programming from schools, community organizations, and human service agencies throughout Santa Cruz County. We will establish and aggressively market a Field Trip Program for local schools. Finally, we will begin regular production of a CTSCC sponsored studio television program focusing specifically on K12 and Post-Secondary education issues.
3) Expand Our Capacity to Promote Local Non-profits - CTSCC will expand service to local non-profits by establishing a Non-Profit Organization Mini-Documentary program. Throughout the year, CTSCC will produce a number of short 6-8 minute documentaries for local non-profits. Each documentary will give an overview of the services the non-profit provides and how local residents can get involved. CTSCC will offer this service on a sliding scale.
Staffing
In early FY 2007-08 we will be hiring a new Executive Director. Other than this key hire, there are no significant staffing changes anticipated for FY 07-08. We anticipate continuing to employ the 11 regular employees and the eight part-timers that we currently have in their current classifications.
We will also continue working with the UCSC’s Community Studies Program and Professions Training Program to place interns at CTSCC. We will have one full-time and several part-time interns throughout the course of the FY.
Hours of Operation
We will continue to have our lobby open 40 hours a week and have our facility open to public access activities 35-40 hours/week. Likewise, studio use and equipment check-out will be available five to six days per week, depending on need.
Technology Upgrades
Resources permitting, CTSCC intends to continue to update its non-linear editing capabilities, and upgrade lighting capabilities in the studio. Last FY CTSCC converted one of its existing analog editing suites into a non-linear editing suite equipped with Final Cut Pro editing software. In the upcoming FY we intend to complete a digital upgrade of our remaining analog editing suite. Possible upgrades to the studio include a dimming system for lighting. The dimming system will allow for more flexibility in lighting and save money in the long run by allowing for longer lamp life.
Membership
CTSCC’s goal for membership in 07-08 is to increase membership by 10%. This would raise our number of members to approximately 325. This will be achieved through a focused effort to retain existing members, increased follow up with members of the public who attend orientations, increasing the number of orientations we do, and increased publicity via media partnerships.
Community
Targeted Outreach
CTSCC will continue to utilize the PEG Outreach Coordinator position, to help fulfill our commitment to diversity and to do targeted outreach to underrepresented communities such as youth, LGBTQ, seniors, people with disabilities, people from lower socio-economic strata and ethnic minorities.
Public Service
CTSCC’s “Community In Action”, a program co-produced by staff, volunteer and interns will continue to be available to produce and cablecast public service announcements (PSAs) at no charge to non-profit organizations in Santa Cruz county with budgets under $250,000 and a greatly reduced cost ($150) to non-profits with larger budgets.
During FY 2006-07 we produced PSAs for a wide range of organizations including (get more info) Big Brothers Big Sisters, Hospice Caring Project, and La Manzana Community Resource Center. Our goal for 07-08 is to produce 30 PSAs for local non-profits.
Moreover, we plan to create and cablecast community calendar listings for over 175 non-profit and civic organizations announcing everything from children’s events and self-improvement classes to speakers and parades.
Coverage and Cablecast of Community Events
Over the last several years we have been increasing our commitment to covering local community events and we plan to continue that trend for FY 07-08. The enhanced budgetary allocation will allow for full or partial sponsorship of 65-70 events. We continue to hear from many community members that the opportunity to see these events is one of the things they value most about CTSCC.
During FY 06/07, CTSCC covered approximately 55 events taking place in our community. These requests for coverage are made by individuals or non-profit organizations and cover a variety of topic areas such as Education (e.g. Santa Cruz Meth Project Forum, PVUSD Annual Parent Conference); Cultural (Eight Tens @ Eight Play Festival, Gail Rich Awards, Cabrillo Music Festival “Meet the Composers”); Public Affairs (SC City Council Candidate Forum, Bill Monning, State Ballot Measures Forum); and other events of interest to the community, such as the Martin Luther King, Jr. Convocation, the United Way’s Community Assessment Project, An Evening with Victor Villasenor, and the Nadherny/Calciano Memorial Youth Symposium.
In addition, we have continued production on our ongoing series shows, “Latinos al Dia”, a program produced entirely in Spanish and with guests from a variety of local organizations such as La Manzana and the Small Business Development Center, and “Community Express”, with topics ranging from the state of mental health services to foster care to traffic issues in Santa Cruz County.
Fiscal Sponsorships/Grant-Funded Projects
In FY 07-08, CTSCC will continue to serve as a nonprofit sponsor to several local media endeavors, including Earth Vision: The International Environmental Film and Video Festival; QTV; and Reel Work May Day Labor Film Festival. These sponsorships have helped to augment CTSCC community outreach and visibility as well as to raise some additional revenues.
CTSCC will also continue to apply for grant funding for special projects throughout the year. In the last several years, grant funding has allowed us to participate in a number of projects. “Ready or Not”, funded by First Five of Santa Cruz County, involved local teen parents in the production of public service announcements and studio programs. “Youthtopia”, funded by the Benton Foundation in partnership with KUSP, was a talk show hosted by teens that focused on issues that face teenagers in our community. Both of these projects are great models for future partnerships in which we hope to participate.
Other Resources
CTSCC will continue offer the full range of services that we have been offering for the past 12 years with enhancements made each year. Next year we will continue to upgrade our website so that it can be a more effective resource to search and view public access, government and education programming schedules, submit information for community calendar listings, enroll for training classes, access staff contact information and other useful links.
