THE TENTH INNING

Community Engagement Grants RFP

Application Deadline: March 16, 2010

WETA is pleased to offer station engagement grants for Ken Burns’s THE TENTH INNING. We look forward to helping you develop a plan that allows you to reach specific audiences with this film to meet the needs of your station and your community. As you complete the grant application please contact us with any and all questions or concerns.

Contacts:

Anne HarringtonKatie Wilson

Director, Interactive Media and OutreachProject Manager, Interactive Media and Outreach

703/998.2458703/998.2663

Background

Seen by more than 43 million viewers in its first airing in 1994, and still the most watched series in the history of national public television, the nine-part PBS documentary series BASEBALL traced our national pastime from the mid 1800s through the early 1990s. Now, sixteen years after its initial broadcast, Florentine Films has created a new two-episode, four-hour program, The Tenth Inning, to bring the landmark series up to date. The Tenth Inning, directed and produced by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick,will air nationally on PBS in the fall of 2010 to kick off a re-broadcast of the original series.

The Tenth Inningis based on the premise that this seemingly simple stick and ball game continues to be a window through which it is possible to see the best, as well as the worst, of America. Beginning in the early 1990s, the film tells the tumultuous story of our national pastime up to the present day, introducing an unforgettable array of players, teams, and fans, celebrating the game’s resilience and enduring appeal, and showcasing a succession of extraordinary accomplishments and heroics – and devastating losses and disappointments.

Against a backdrop of surging globalization, a communications revolution, and dizzying cycles of boom and bust, The Tenth Inningbegins with a crippling strike that alienates millions of fans and brings the game to the brink. Chastened, the players and the owners manage to find a way to work together, and baseball enters a period of unprecedented popularity – and skyrocketing profits. On the field, a generation of dazzlingly talented Latin players reinvent the game; the New York Yankees hire a new manager and build a new dynasty; baseball offers solace to a frightened country in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11th; and the Boston Red Sox provide their long suffering fans with some of the most painful, and some of the most joyous moments in their lives. An assemblage of larger than life athletes with tremendous gifts and grit – Pedro Martinez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, Greg Maddux, Roger Clemens, David Ortiz, Ichiro Suzuki, Alex Rodriguez, and Barry Bonds -- do things that no one has ever done before. But as hallowed records that have stood for decades are broken, a scandal of Shakespearean complexity threatens to destroy the faith of millions of loyal fans, and casts doubt on the integrity of the game itself.

I. GRANT OPPORTUNITIES

WETA will award station grants of up to $5,000 for outreach activities related to the film. (The number of grants will be determined by scale of applicants.)

Baseball has long been the American pastime and it brings our diverse society together to experience all the triumphs and defeats of the game as a human collective. The overarching goal of THE TENTH INNING community initiative is to engagethe local community and the local ballpark (major or minor) and create new partnerships with groups that will last well beyond the broadcast.

The grant activity period is from June 1, 2010 through Nov. 1, 2010. The deadline for application is March 16th, and grants will be announced April 2nd.

II. RESOURCES

To help with the planning and execution of your local activities, WETA will provide the following resources:

  • An online project workspace for sharing ideas and downloading materials ( (user: national / password: projects)
  • Photos, features, press materials
  • Widgets for your websites
  • Expanded StoryShare online story collection tool
  • Screening clips from the series
  • Producer station tour – Ken Burns will be traveling to certain markets to promote THE TENTH INNING broadcast and outreach activities. (contact WETA for further information).

III. SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES

Activities should involve reaching diversepopulationsincluding but not limited to Little Leagues, Kiwanis clubs, Rotary clubs, high school classrooms, camps, colleges and universities. Projects involving engaging youth (and intergenerational experiences) and communities that are economically underserved are also encouraged. Depending on the needs of your individual communities and your station’s past successes, activities may include:

  • youth summits
  • University dialog regarding steroid use involving coaches and athletes
  • in-ball park screenings, family days and activities
  • media tours of ballparks
  • digital storytelling workshops and story collection initiatives
  • events featuring local baseball players making a difference in your community
  • screening events with community partners

IV. GRANT REQUIREMENTS

Stations must agree to the following:

  • Submit updates to WETA on station activities as well as a final narrative and financial report.
  • Agree to broadcast THE TENTH INNING on its national feeds.
  • Promote local broadcast of THE TENTH INNINGusing all appropriate vehicles, including station web site, program guide, radio and television promos using only approved images and logos (provided by WETA).
  • Acknowledge outreach campaign funders on materials using appropriate logos and language (provided by WETA).

V. GRANT APPLICATION

To simplify the application and reporting processes, stations should apply through the NationalCenter for Media Engagement: