Town of Salisbury Massachusetts

For Immediate Release

Wisniewski named SCTV Executive Director

The Salisbury Community TV & Media Center has named Lance Wisniewski as its first Executive Director, effective July 1, 2008. A resident of the town, Wisniewski will manage the planning, training, and scheduling of facilities and programs for the organization, which will be largely run by volunteers. Salisbury residents have been using cable television to focus attention on municipal issues and meetings since 2002. The non-profit center was incorporated in December of 2007. Under an agreement with the Town, it will support all local public, educational, and government access production and programming for the community.

Salisbury recently renovated the second floor of its Town Hall, including a new TV control room adjacent to the Colchester Auditorium with its built-in video cameras and projection system. The Newburyport Five Cents Savings Bank and The Institution for Savings both made grants for facilities and equipment. Since January, volunteers have been televising many town boards and committees using this new facility.

As founder of the Synapse Video Center at Syracuse University in the early 1970s, Wisniewski was one of the early pioneers of public access cable programming. Students designed, built, and ran the campus cable television system that he began. Synapse soon became a national center to support work by independent producers and video artists. Wisniewski, too, began to focus more on national programming. Over several decades he produced educational and documentary series in the natural and social sciences. His works have been broadcast over PBS and The Discovery Channel. For the past fourteen years, he has lived on Rings Island in Salisbury where he was twice funded by the National Science Foundation to develop interactive multimedia education for the World Wide Web.

Salisbury Selectmen Donald Beaulieu serves as a member of the town's Cable Advisory Committee and is Chairman of the Media Center's Board of Directors. He offered a bold vision for the Center, stating, “I believe an informed resident makes a stronger community, and residents can have an even greater impact now that they have their own facility.”

For Wisniewski, the focus will be very local again. "This is another start-up opportunity for me and a unique chance to bring my experience home and assist in the civic transformation that has been occurring in Salisbury." A major goal is to recruit and train volunteers in TV production and editing. The Board of Directors also has several openings. Residents interested in helping or learning should contact the Salisbury Community TV & Media Center at (978) 465-2310 ext. 254 or http://www.salisburyma.gov/communityTV. Email SCTVMC@gmail.com.