A few days before the first Presidential debate I talked with CNN’s Soledad O’Brien about Sesame, not knowing that with all the issues we face in this country, the Presidential election would come down to a referendum on Big Bird! But that is what Governor Romney made it when he said he liked Big Bird, but would cut PBS funding.
I had tried to explain that Sesame Workshop as an independent, non-profit organization cannot just depend on PBS for funding, and that most of our revenue comes from private contributions and from licensing fees from our characters.
But that’s only half the story. Sesame Workshop has created a financially sustainable model to fund production of our educational programming here and around the world. But Sesame Street would not exist were it not for PBS and its local stations, which is the distribution system for Big Bird and friends to reach all children across the United States, particularly the low income children who need us most.
There have been over 80 million graduates of Sesame Street in the U.S. since 1969, and longitudinal studies have shown that children who grew up watching Sesame Street had 16% higher grade point averages throughout high school!
A CNN poll said 7% of the American public think that PBS gets as much as half the US budget! 30% think it’s 5%. In reality it’s 0.014%. Let’s keep that in perspective and also not forget the return on that investment: millions of children who have benefited from early childhood education brought to them by the letters, P. B. S.!
Sesame Street has been a proud partner of PBS for 43 years, and is dependent on PBS to distribute our commercial-free educational programming to all children in the United States. At a time when improvements in school readiness are recognized as being much needed for a significant number of America’s preschoolers, PBS’s ability to connect Big Bird and Friends to these children is essential. We highly value that connection. Sesame Workshop is a nonpartisan, nonprofit, educational organization. We do not comment on political campaigns, but we’re happy we can all agree that everyone likes Big Bird.
Ed. Note: Sonia Manzano has played Sesame Street’s Maria since 1971. Her first novel, The Revolution of Evelyn Serrano, was recently published by Scholastic Press and can be purchased here. Special thanks to Sonia for taking the time to contribute to the Sesame Workshop blog.
You never know what you’ll come away with watching Sesame Street. Even me – and I’m on the show! I recently watched two episodes and came away with a new appreciation of Muppets, a lesson in comedy, and a sweet memory of my mother. Read More
This season on Sesame Street, Elmo is starring in a brand new segment: Elmo The Musical! During the creation of the segment, we went behind the scenes to show you how this rollicking, music-filled math adventure got made.
Since the 1980s Sesame Workshop has been working to provide children ways to not just watch but genuinely interact with our educational content. Over the years VHS and CD-ROM games offered limited interactivity, but nothing approaches what the Workshop and Microsoft have partnered to create.
Starting today “Kinect Sesame Street TV,” a groundbreaking 2-way television, Xbox-based experience that has plenty of educational potential, is now available for purchase. Read More
On Wednesday Elmo, Grover, Rosita, Cookie Monster, and Katie, a Muppet created especially for Sesame Street‘s USO tour, stopped by an Arizona Diamondbacks game in Phoenix. Elmo even got to throw out the first pitch. Check out the photos from their trip to the ballgame.
A few years ago, Wandy Hoh was at home, playing with her three young daughters, when she noticed something.
“It was very obvious that the things they were most interested in were various gadgets and computers,” she said. But she felt that there weren’t enough children’s books available digitally. Instead of waiting for them to come along, Hoh took the initiative and in 2010 founded MeeGenius, of which she now serves as CEO.
Two years later, MeeGenius and Sesame Workshop are happy to announce that we’ve formed a partnership that will bring six Sesame Street e-book titles to web, iOS and Android platforms. Beginning today with Celebrate School: First Day, the new titles will debut every Wednesday throughout the month of September.
When Jerry Nelson passed away on Thursday, August 23, everyone at Sesame Workshop — especially those who had worked with Jerry for not just years but decades — was deeply saddened. However, the outpouring of emotion regarding Jerry’s loss spread far beyond the walls of the Workshop. Across the country his fans began penning moving tributes to the artistry and care with which he portrayed iconic Sesame Street characters such as Count Von Count, Herry Monster and Sherlock Hemlock. There were many lovely pieces written about Jerry, too many to read them all. But we wanted to introduce you to a few that the Sesame Workshop family found especially touching.
The cast and crew of Sesame Street and the staff of Sesame Workshop deeply mourn the loss of cast member and creator of dozens of Muppet characters, Jerry Nelson. A member of the Sesame Street family for more than 40 years, he will forever be in our hearts and remembered for the artistry in his puppetry, his music, and the laughter he brought to children worldwide through his portrayal of Count von Count, Herry Monster, Fat Blue, Sherlock Hemlock, the Amazing Mumford and many other beloved characters. We will miss his extraordinary spirit and the joy he brought to our Street.
On Tuesday, August 14, Sesame Street released “Elmo’s Alphabet Challenge,” our latest home video. In it, Elmo, Abby and Telly get sucked into an animated video game world and have to defeat A.B.C.-more at a number of alphabet-based challenges in order to escape.
The challenges are all spoofs of iconic video games: Pac-man, Guitar Hero and Super Mario Brothers, among others, inspired the levels Elmo and his friends must traverse. The animation was created by Magnetic Dreams, an animation company Sesame Street has been working with for almost a decade. Read More
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