Steve Mencher
7203 14th Avenue
Takoma Park, MD 20912
http://menschmedia.com
301-431-2640 / cell 301-580-6722
1992-2006 Writer/Producer - Web, Radio and Television
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Organization: |
Annenberg Public Policy
Center, University of Pennsylvania and NPR |
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Project: |
Writer, Producer, NPR's
Justice Talking radio series |
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Responsibilities |
Write, produce, book guests
for nationally distributed radio series, hosted by NPR's Margot Adler, which
deals with issues in the law -- from abortion, to drug testing, to the
legality of the war in Iraq. Commission and edit feature stories. 2003-2005 |
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Organization: |
The J. Paul Getty Trust |
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Project: |
Tour of Getty Center site
in Los Angeles and Getty Villa in Malibu |
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Responsibilities |
Wrote and produced two
interactive audio tours for the Getty Museum. Instead of the usual "you are here, now, looking at
'x'," tours are a personal exploration of how and why the sites work,
and how the art work and designs respond to Los Angeles and Southern
California. |
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Organization: |
OVATION - The Arts
Network |
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Project: |
ArtsZone - http://www.ovationtv.com/artszone |
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Responsibilities |
From the earliest design
sketches, through its ongoing implementation, I have created and guided the
multimedia website ArtsZone. Using sound, video and interactive
elements, ArtsZone takes the best of OVATIONÕs cable television programming,
and creates a window for students of all ages to appreciate and understand
the art under discussion.
ArtsZone also follows the news of the arts world on a daily basis, with a short report which I
research, write and post daily at http://www.ovationtv.com/artszone/artsnews.asp In 1997, I produced the
film "The Codex Comes Home: Leonardo Lives in Seattle" for OVATION.
The film documented an arts festival run by the Seattle Art Museum
during the exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci's Codex Leicester, which Bill Gates bought for $30 million in 1995. Created an international
ArtsZone project with the Miho Museum in Japan that was the most successful module of ArtsZone to date. As ArtsZone adds films from
the OVATION library, I write or edit the content for each web edition;
oversee all design and computer programming for the site; interface with
OVATION staff, with the education community. |
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Organization: |
National Security
Education Program/ Boren Fellowships and Scholarships |
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Project: |
Re-brand NSEP Boren student
scholarships to attract the best and brightest students with an interest in
foreign study and travel. |
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Responsibilities |
Produced and coordinated
this web-based project. Acted as
editor for all written material.
Hired, and supervised design and technical teams. Produced film featuring graduates. |
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Organization: |
PBS/ OVATION |
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Project: |
Rings of Passion |
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Responsibilities |
For this collaborative
multimedia project, I worked with former National Gallery of Art Director J.
Carter Brown to conceive and
execute a website based on his 1996 exhibition and 1998 film ÒRings: Five
Passions in World Art.Ó The
original exhibition had been wildly controversial, and it was our plan to
document both the controversy and the exhibitÕs original and very compelling
ideas, using the powers of the Web. The key feature of the
website is a ÒCurate Your Own ExhibitionÓ area, for which we created a
software engine that allows any visitor to create and post on our site his or
her reaction to the exhibition. |
Other Significant Freelance Projects:
1992-1998 - Library of Congress Wrote and produced a series of radio specials featuring jazz, classical and popular music from the LibraryÕs archives and from live performances. Highlights include an Irving Berlin special narrated by Charles Osgood, and a trio of jazz programs, hosted by the late Joe Williams.
1995 - Smithsonian Institution, White House, MCI Senior producer for the White House Collection of American Crafts website for the National Museum of American Art and First Lady Hillary Clinton.
http://americanart.si.edu/collections/exhibits/whc/index.html
This was the SmithsonianÕs first museum exhibition website, and it is still a popular destination. In addition to being senior producer for the site I produced and prepared dozens of video and audio clips for the site with the available technology. In 1995, this site was a groundbreaker.
1990-1997 - Symphony Magazine Wrote a series of articles, some in collaboration with my wife Rosanne Singer, about people, ideas and issues in the classical music world.
Employment 1991-1992 UPI Radio
I covered both the Democratic and Republican Conventions for UPI as a floor reporter in 1992, and was a weekend editor on the national desk for a year in 1991-92. As weekend editor, I monitored the wires, prepared and broadcast an hourly feed using material from our reporters in the field, oversaw coverage of breaking news from around the world, and wrote and voiced short news pieces based on phone reporting and wire copy.
Sept 1988-January 1990 National Public Radio
At National Public Radio, I was Op-Ed producer for the daily arts program Performance Today. I have also wrote and produced news pieces and features for Performance Today and Morning Edition.
As producer, I edited reporters and commentators on a variety of subjects. We created the Performance Today program to be a vehicle where news of the arts was treated with the seriousness and depth of other news, and we were in the forefront of covering the culture wars of the late 1980s in Washington and around the country. Performance Today recently received a Peabody Award honoring its ten years of excellent programming.
1985-1988 Carnegie Hall
As associate producer of AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight, I wrote and produced a nationally distributed music program each week. Our network comprised about 200 radio stations, divided between commercial stations in the top 50 markets, and non-commercial stations in another 150 markets.
I researched and wrote feature stories about Carnegie HallÕs history, and directed our host, John Rubinstein.
1983-1985 - University of Texas, Austin As a teaching assistant in the Journalism Department, I taught advanced journalism to juniors and seniors while I was studying for a Masters Degree in the School of Communication. As part of our work, we produced a weekly radio newsmagazine show with student and faculty talent.
1973-1983 Actor, Director, Musician, Piano Technician Berkeley, California |
Education
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University of Texas MA (1985) School of
Communication (Television Production
Major) |
University of Chicago BA (1973) in Humanities (Music, Theater and Media ) Graduation Speaker |
Honors
Museum of Broadcasting, radio
story about Paul Robeson featured 1987
National Endowment for the
Arts Media Grant 1988
Montgomery County Media
Artist Fellowship 2004-5