THINKTECH HAWAII ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION CUT BACK AND NEW LEGACY ARCHIVE PROGRAM
ThinkTech Hawaii has announced that it will no longer produce new video programs on a regular basis starting May 1. This decision is based primarily on ThinkTech's inability to raise funds sufficient to carry on its production schedule as before. As a nonprofit, it has received financial support from local corporate and individual underwriters, small donors and local grants. Program hosts, guests, directors and senior staff work on a volunteer basis.
Jay Fidell, CEO, states, “We regret the necessity of taking this step, especially as our country is engaged in the most divisive election since the Civil War. We should all be following that, along with so many other troubling national and global issues, but given the difficulties of nonprofit fundraising these days, we find that we will nevertheless have to cut back and leave it to other media to further address those issues.”
ThinkTech started on Hawaii Public Radio almost 25 years ago, and has transitioned through many iterations, including live studio broadcasts and most recently virtual programming and streaming, with 30 talk shows every week. Our free internet platform for civic engagement by citizen journalists has covered a myriad of subjects to achieve our mission of raising public awareness in Hawaii and beyond.
Although ThinkTech will cut back on its studio, staff and production operations, it will continue its YouTube channel and website and will accept and post content on an ad hoc basis on and after May 30. We will no longer engage in regular fundraising, but will accept donations to help cover the costs of the transition and the development of our Legacy Archive program, which will provide long term public access to our large collection of content, including many thousands of videos of continuing interest to the community.
ThinkTech Hawaii is a Hawaii nonprofit digital media company originally organized in 2001. It has provided a platform for civic engagement by volunteer citizen journalist hosts and their guests on issues of interest to viewers in Hawaii and elsewhere. Over the past several years, ThinkTech has produced and streamed 30 live talk shows every week. See thinktechhawaii.com and youtube.com/thinktechhawaii.
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