Impromp2, The Community Blog

The Buddha Premieres April 7 at 8 pm on WPBT2

I was always very curious as a child. I had so many questions about life, nature and purpose. After my rebellious teens, I started to look for answers in philosophy and religion. Buddhism was one which sparked my intrigue- from the way it began to the basic teachings.

Buddhism began two-thousand-five-hundred years ago in northern India, Prince Siddhartha left his palace where he had spent twenty-nine years indulging in pleasures. He was determined to comprehend the nature of human suffering. After a grueling spiritual quest that lasted six years, he at last attained enlightenment meditating under a fig tree. He became the Buddha, the “awakened one,” and devoted the rest of his life to teaching the way to enlightenment that he himself had found, giving birth to one of the world’s great religions.

On Wednesday, April 7, 2010, at 8:00 p.m. WPBT2 will bring to life Siddhartha and his journey in THE BUDDHA, a two-hour documentary directed by award-winning filmmaker David Grubin.

Filmmaker David Grubin stated, “Buddhism is growing more and more popular in America,”…“But the Buddha himself remains a mysterious, exotic figure, the founder of a religion in a different key. The Buddha never claimed to be God, or his emissary on earth. He said only that in a world of unavoidable pain and suffering, he had found a serenity which others could find too. In our own bewildering times of violent change and spiritual confusion, the Buddha’s teachings have particular relevance.”

“By continuing our exploration of the world’s religions, we are delighted to participate in broadening people’s understanding of Buddhism today with David Grubin’s moving portrait of the life of the Buddha,” said John F. Wilson, PBS senior vice president and chief TV programming executive. “This film exposes not just the man, but also his rich teachings, which we hope will spark a larger conversation about religion and spirituality.”

I hope you will join me and thousands of others by watching this informative documentary by David Grubin on Wednesday, April 7, 2010, at 8:00 p.m on WPBT2. Then come back and share your thoughts with our virtual South Florida community.

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Posted by Natalia Villegas

 

Meet This Year's Team Leaders

Look for video from the week long VACC Camp on uVu next week. In the meantime, meet the volunteer team leaders and hear why the continue returning to help at the camp each year.

Talk to us before "After You've Gone"

This month, WPBT2 adds a new program to our line up of Saturday Night British Comedies. "After You've Gone" stars Nicholas Lyndhurst & Celia Imrie and premieres on April 24. We'd like to get your opinion on our British Comedies in general, please take the brief survey below

Click here to take survey

SAYING A LOT QUIETLY

New Works by Michel Delgado

March 31 - April 13, 2010

at The Studios of Key West, Historic Armory, 600 White Street

Reception Thursday, April 1 from 6-8pm

The work of local artist, Michel Delgado, will be on view at The Studios of Key West from March 31 through April 13, with an opening reception on Thursday, April 1 from 6-8 pm.

This new body of work was inspired by Delgado's travels and the time he spent working in a Chicago studio last summer.  A collection of mixed media pieces created in Delgado's direct, powerful style - the exhibition is filled with intense colors, crisply painted shapes, and images which evoke a childlike wonder and simplicity.  

"Key West provides a diversity of ethnicity and intellect that fascinates me," says Delgado, "The island is a source of great creative energy."

The collection will fill the Armory main hall with a world of brilliant colors, fantastical figures, and mystical animals.  Delgado's bold artistic voice reaches out to his audience openly and honestly, and he creates a space where the viewer can explore the subtleties of memory and time, solitude and silence, as well as joy, learning and love.

Constitutionality of Healthcare Law

Soon after President Barack Obama signed the legislation on healthcare reform, thirteen attorney generals, led by Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum, filed a suit saying the new law was unconstitutional.  Two legal experts join us to share their thoughts on the merits of this legal challenge.

WPBT2's 'KidVision VPK' Receives National Award

 The Corporation for Public Broadcasting announced that public television station WPBT2 has been awarded a My Source Education Innovation Award. The My Source Education Innovation Awards are designed to recognize and showcase examples of how local public media organizations are using innovative approaches and emerging digital technologies to serve the educational needs of their communities. Patricia Harrison, Corporation for Public Broadcasting President and Chief Executive Officer presented the award to Jack Kelly, WPBT2 Vice President Production.

 

WPBT2 received the award for its innovative approach to education through the KidVision Virtual Pre-Kindergarten project. KidVision VPKis a free, on-line professional development resource for teachers and parents to help them understand and teach Florida’s VPK Education Standards.

 

“South Floridiansshould be very proud of the national recognition that WPBT2 has received for their KidVision VPK program,” said Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz (FL-20) “Educating our children is vital to our success as a nation.  As a mother raising three children in South Florida, it doesn’t surprise me one bit that WPBT2 is at the forefront of innovation of educational resources in America.”

 

Launched in 2008 KidVision VPK (kidvisionvpk.org) offers 10 learning modules that cover 40 VPK education standards. Each module includes a 5-7 minute virtual field trip taking Pre-K children to different places in the community. Each unit comes with lesson plans and assessment forms. Teachers who complete the units receive CEUs. Additionally, each module provides a 2-3 minute video to help teachers understand the standards that are presented in the virtual field trips.

 

Penny Bernath,KidVision VPK Education Content Producer, says, “Early childhood teachers at every   level can benefit from the experiences offered on KidVision VPK and use the program to enhance their classroom curriculum. The overriding goal of the project is student learning. We are accomplishing that goal by educating teachers and giving them tools to make learning fun for both of them.”

With nearly 5,000 registered users from all 67 Florida counties,

KidVision VPK is touching almost 45,000 children. “We are very

honored”, says Jack Kelly, Vice President of Production for WPBT2, “to receive this recognition from CPB. Our KidVision VPK team has done an outstanding job in developing this project.”

 

KidVisionVPK.org   watch, learn, play & integrate the Florida VPK Education Standards

WPBT2 Presents Masterpiece Classic "The Diary of Anne Frank"

WPBT2 will premiere a new adaptation of The Diary of Anne Frank on Aprill 11 at 9 pm, which is Holocause Remembrance Day.

The Diary of Anne Frank is a modern literary classic and an extraordinary social document that gives a unique account, from the perspective of a teenage Jewish girl, of life in hiding during Nazi terror in World World II. Since its publication more than 50 years ago, it has become the world’s most widely read work of non-fiction after the Bible.

“Every generation needs to look at Anne from its own perspective,” says MASTERPIECE executive producer Rebecca Eaton. “In this new MASTERPIECE adaptation, viewers will see Anne as a bright, charming, and difficult teenager—and as the gifted writer she was destined to become.”
 
Newcomer Ellie Kendrick’s portrayal of Anne won rave reviews from UK critics (“She captures Anne’s lively, girlish spirit to perfection,” wrote the Times). The cast also includes Iain Glen (“Into the Storm”) and Tamsin Greig (Shaun of the Dead) as Anne’s father and mother, Otto and Edith Frank.

For this new adaptation, screenwriter Deborah Moggach received permission to use passages of the diaries previously excised by the family. To add to the film’s authenticity, the production team painstakingly recreated the annex where the Frank family lived for two years.

Lit Live!

WPBT2 is a sponsor of Lit Live!on Saturday, March 20 (10 a.m. – 2 p.m.)  where 21 acclaimed  authors will participate in a FREE series of author talks, panel discussions and book signings with the public at Nova Southeastern University’s Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center in Davie. 

Dolores Sukhdeo, WPBT COO, will host the panel discussion with Mireille Guiliano, Women, Work & the Art of Savoir Faire: Business Sense & Sensibility.  Mireille's first book, French Women Don't Get Fat: The Secret of Earing for Pleasure, became a runaway best seller around the globe; Ellen Lupton, Design Your Life:The Pleasures and Perils of Everyday Things and Poppy Tooker, Crescent City Farmers Market Cookbook. 

Other panel discussions include authors: Russel Banks, Joy Fielding, Elizabeth Kostova, L. Jon Wertheim, Emily Leibert, Peter Maass, Alexandra Penney, R.B. Bernstein, Anne C. Heller, David Kriby, Jean Hanff Korelitz, Jerald Walkder, Steve Alten, Deborah Crombie, Bob Morris, Achy Obejas, Patricia Powell and Lisa See.

It's a fun, stimulating and a perfect day for any book-lover!   See you there!

Lit Live!is one event during a two-day celebration of the literary arts hosted by the Broward Public Library Foundation 
For more information, visit www.literaryfeastonline.org

Earth Day 2010 - How much do you know about our planet?

Young at Art

REGISTRATION FOR YoungArts 2011 OPENS MARCH 15

 

17-18 YEAR OLDS AND OTHER HIGH SCHOOL SENIORS ELEGIBLE TO APPLY

 

Miami (March, 2010) YoungArts, the core program of the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts, will open its registration on March 15 for 17-18 year old high school senior artists in the literary, performing and visual arts (across the disciplines of Voice, Music, Jazz, Cinematic Arts, Writing, Photography, Theater, Dance and Visual Arts). YoungArts accepts applications from students from across the country through an online application process.

 

YoungArts receives up to 7,000 applications in nine disciplines each year. The applications are judged by a panel of esteemed artists in a rigorous week-long adjudication process that takes place in the YoungArts offices in downtown Miami. 150 of the top artists selected as national finalists and are invited to Miami for YoungArts Week, an all expenses paid week-long artistic residency including master classes with world renowned artists, workshops and interdisciplinary experiences. From this pool of 150 students, up to 45 will be given Gold and Silver awards, based on their performances at YoungArts Week. The Gold award comes with a monetary award of $10,000, and the Silver award $5,000. YoungArts is the exclusive nominating agency for the Commission on Presidential Scholars. From this pool of 150 students, 20 will be named Presidential Scholars in the Arts and travel to Washington D.C. to receive a Presidential Medallion at a White House ceremony, and perform and exhibit at the Smithsonian Museum and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.