Community Productions

Earlier this year, our web series Market began taking you on an expansive tour of the St. Paul Farmers’ Market, it’s visitors, the farms that sell there, and the many organizations and people who are involved in the market’s activities. Over the course of 20 short weekly episodes, producer David Zierott and his crew drove over a thousand miles - all over Minnesota and Wisconsin - to meet the people who bring you your food.

Each year, as part of our ongoing mission to connect the St. Paul community, we partner with a variety of community groups to bring our viewers local candidate forums and elections coverage. This year we’re bringing you vital information about Minnesota state senate elections in Districts 64, 65, and 66; the US Congressional District 4 election; and the US presidential election, in addition to several districts outside of Ramsey County.

Each spring in St. Paul, thousands of young people participate in a tradition that marks their passage into adulthood and celebrates the successful completion of their secondary educations- graduation. Many walk across the stage of the Roy

SPNN's Community Productions (CP) Department is pleased to be working with Keystone Community Services on a short, instructional video that will run at three of Keystone's food shelf locations. Keystone Community Services is a community-based human services organization in St. Paul. In addition to operating three foodshelves, Keystone offers a variety of programs for seniors, immigrants, disabled people and at-risk families.

Appointed by the Governor, the Metropolitan Council, is the regional planning agency charged with providing essential services. The met Council oversees vital services such as transportation; parks and trails; and the collection and treatment of water, to the seven-county Twin Cities area.

Now in its twelfth season, Conversations with Al McFarlane has long been a source for intelligent discussion of issues affecting the African-American community of the Twin Cities. The new season features a selection of excellent guests covering a variety of important local topics. The program is filmed weekly by SPNN’s Community Productions department at Neighborhood House in North Minneapolis, with live jazz music provided by Wain McFarlane and his band.

SPNN is committed to showcasing and celebrating the diversity of voices that exist in our community. This February, in honor of Black History Month, we will be featuring a variety of programs on SPNN Channel 19 that celebrate and document the experience of African-Americans in St. Paul and beyond. Programs can be watched all month long on Channel 19, or streaming online in our special Black History Month playlist.

Featured programs include:

Conversations with Al McFarlane

SPNN is pleased to continue our traditional coverage of the Martin Luther King Day Celebration held at Concordia University in St. Paul. This year's celebration, Looking Back, Looking Forward, was marked with musical and spoken-word performances, as well as remarks by Mayors Chris Coleman, R.T. Rybak, Senators Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken. The keynote speaker was Bishop William Watson, III.

On Thursday, January 19^th, Your Legislators returned to our studio to begin it’s 31^st season. A production of Pioneer Public Television, Your Legislators is broadcast live throughout the state and created with the assistance of SPNN. The program, moderated for more than two decades by Supreme Court Associate Justice Barry Anderson, offers citizens a weekly opportunity to connect with elected officials.

Partner PSAs
As a service to the community and to our partners, SPNN periodically produces public service announcements for use on our channels and partner websites. These announcements can serve to raise awareness of an organization's work or of a specific event.  The PSAs are taped at the SPNN studio in St. Paul and are produced at no cost to the organizations. Opportunities are limited and the psas must conform to a specific format.