Moving Forward

Moving Forward

New Home. New Content. New Possibilities.

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Introduction

In August 2022, coinciding with the station’s 60th anniversary, Austin PBS welcomed the community into its new home and largest ever 12G facility in the U.S. - Austin Media Center.

The Austin Media Center, a 45,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility located within the redeveloped and revitalized Highland Mall, now the Austin Community College Highland Campus, is one of the most unique and energizing spaces in Austin.

View of the entry stairs with new Austin PBS signage at the new location of Austin PBS.

Serving as a base and platform from which Central Texans can gather, learn, share, and create, the Austin Media Center consists of the following key features and spaces:

  • Atrium/Gallery and Events Space: expansive three-story atrium coupled with flexible event space. 4,800 combined square feet | 300+ capacity
  • Pfluger Keller Community Soundstage (Studio A): showcasing live broadcasts, tapings, film screenings, and community forums inspired by PBS content. 6,600 square feet | 400+ seating capacity
  • Studio C A Gift from Luci Baines Johnson’s Family With Hope for Tomorrow: additional studio space designed to support new production formats and creative collaborations. 1,500 square feet | 15 capacity
  • St.David’s Foundation Community Conference Suite: event and meeting space, including a large community room and four conference rooms of varying sizes, available for nonprofit and community partners. 100+ capacity
  • Silicon Labs Community Room
  • Laura & John Beckworth/Hobby Family Foundation Conference Room
  • Ana & Blake Magee Conference Room
  • Bettye Nowlin Conference Room
  • Horizon Bank Conference Room

Testimonials

Our Progress

In 2019, Austin PBS launched Moving Forward, a multi-phase capital campaign to create a new generation of public media with greater community impact. Phase I of this bold effort centered on building the station’s new home - the Austin Media Center at ACC Highland.

Within one year of launching the campaign, Austin PBS raised more than $10M through the generosity of leadership donors, including St. David’s Foundation, Mary M. Pfluger and Gary W. Keller, Nicole and Tyson Tuttle, Silicon Labs, and Luci Baines Johnson and Ian J. Turpin.

Unfortunately, as a result of the COVID pandemic, Austin PBS experienced a six-month construction delay to the expected completion date of September 2020, as well as a slowdown in philanthropy. Station leadership decided to delay any further fundraising efforts in order to focus on daily operations during this critical time.

However, with sufficient support already raised, construction of the Austin Media Center continued throughout 2020. Then, within days of moving into the nearly completed space in February 2021, Winter Storm Uri occurred, causing extensive damage to the building and the station’s equipment and significantly delaying completion until 2022.

Now, on the other side of these incredible challenges, Austin PBS has renewed its fundraising efforts to close out Phase I and launch Phase II of the Moving Forward Campaign.

Looking Ahead

Phase II of the Moving Forward campaign will run from 2023-2025 with a goal of raising a total of $5M in support of upgrades and improvements to the Austin City production facility at the Moody Theater, innovative and expanded community initiatives focused on education and workforce development in partnership with ACC, and next-gen technology for the station.

With a shared vision of serving as a catalyst and source for social equity and personal enrichment for our region, and nationally, as a model for leveraging the power of media for good, Austin PBS and Austin Community College have identified the following strategic community initiatives thus far:

  • Educational Media Center: the first-of-its-kind virtual and physical site providing trusted and proven PBS educational media and guidance on effective uses. As a virtual site, the EMC boosts the accessibility and use of Austin PBS’s quality children’s TV programming, community-based learning experiences and activities, and digital technologies to improve early learning. As a physical site, the EMC connects educators, parents, caregivers and children and provides a fun and welcoming space to gather for workshops, professional learning, creative play and more!
  • Media Resource Center: envisioned as a Center of Excellence for experimentation, innovation, and collaboration in next generation digital media, the MRC will partner with ACC’s Radio/Television/Film Department to train students to focus the power of new media for community good. Additionally, the MRC will focus its programming on entrenched community issues in order to discover effective solutions that can be shared through a wide range of communication tools and platforms intentionally designed to reach diverse audiences and stakeholders.
  • Internship Program: A unique portfolio of earn and learn opportunities, focused on middle skills sectors and aimed at advancing education and employment opportunities. At least 15 paid internships offered annually for those interested in careers in media and/or nonprofit management including digital/ broadcast media and technology, as well as communications, fund development, educational services, external relations, and finance/accounting.
  • Next-Gen Technology: In the near future, Austin PBS will adopt and implement a new broadcast standard known as ATSC 3.0. This means Austin PBS will be able to deliver more content, including ACC-TV programming, and open the potential for enhanced community service channels to address a wide range of health, development, education and related community issues.

Your Support

Gifts to Moving Forward reflect our community’s belief that public media matters today and for future generations to come.

The completed Austin PBS donor wall, upon which are the names of donors and words of thanks.

Donors contributing gifts of $5,000 or more to the Campaign will be recognized on a permanent Donor Wall, prominently displayed in the expansive three-story Austin Media Center Atrium.

Moving Forward contributions not only support Austin PBS’s new home, but the first-of-their kind public media initiatives and collaborations that will serve as a centerpiece for the over 20 Central Texas communities and close to 3 million viewers the station serves.

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