CCTV Founding Director Lauren-Glenn Davitian to Take Up Special Projects Role
The CCTV Center for Media & Democracy Board announced today that founding director Lauren-Glenn Davitian will be stepping down from her leadership role to take on special projects for the organization.
Lauren-Glenn stepped down as as Executive Director in September 2022 in support of a new co-director leadership structure, assuming the role of interim Operations Director. Long time staffer and media educator/ producer Meghan O’Rourke was selected by the Board to be Director of Projects. The Board is in the process of hiring a new Director of Operations. Once that position is filled, Lauren-Glenn will focus on Special Projects including advocacy, archival research, media production and preparation for CCTV’s 40th Anniversary in June 2024.
Statement from Lauren-Glenn:
“CCTV was launched in 1984 to put local media in the hands of the people. While it’s a work in progress, we continue our efforts together to build a community for all. I am proud to be a leader of this movement, thriving today in Burlington, across Vermont and throughout the United States.
The years have been fast and full. With a band of activists, including our lawyer Sam Press, we obtained funding for Vermont’s first five public access TV operations in 1984.
Thanks to Nat Ayer, we documented and aired Burlington’s community and political life, which gave rise to Town Meeting TV in 1990. In an effort to liberate the internet for job seekers and nonprofits we launched CyberSkills Vermont in 1995. In the early 2000’s, CCTV was among the first to live-stream press conferences and public events.
Common Good Vermont (2008) is now housed at the United Way and continues to educate and connect Vermont’s nonprofit network in important ways. Most recently, CCTV joined forces with Vermont Language Justice Project to fight for language access and deliver public health messages in 16 languages. And CCTV’s Archives are a peerless collection of the rich history of our community, numbering more than 40,000 programs.
We remain steadfast on the ramparts. Working with our close colleagues at Vermont Access Network—24 community media centers are advocating for legislative funding and new public policy to address an outdated cable revenue model.
CCTV’s spirit, determination and innovation lives on. I am blessed to be part of a legacy of remarkable co-creators here at CCTV and across the state of Vermont.
All roads lead to the future, led by CCTV’s dynamic and energized staff of community media makers and activists. Now is the ideal time for me to hand over the joy and responsibilities for protecting and preserving people-powered media in Vermont.
The future is bright. I hope we will all help CCTV’s next generation shine as we continue to build a community worth living in.”
The job posting for CCTV’s Director of Operations may be found here. Please direct inquiries to Meghan O’Rourke at morourke [at] cctv [dot] org ("morourke [at] cctv [dot] org)"