Jac Venza, who was a key to helping American public television in the 1960s and ’70s transform into a bastion of top-notch cultural programming, including Great Performances and Live From Lincoln Center, died May 28 at his home in Lyme, Connecticut. He was 97.
His death was confirmed by his spouse, Daniel D. Routhier.
Venza was working as a television producer when he was asked to collaborate with other innovators assembled by the Ford Foundation in the early 1960s. Their goal was to transform a limited service into National Educational Television, which later became the Public Broadcasting Service.
Venza pushed a simple concept for bringing high art to the masses: “Why don’t we entertain them, too?”
He introduced Net Playhouse, Theater in America, Live From Lincoln Center, Great Performances” and, at the suggestion of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dance in America. He also imported popular BBC productions like Brideshead Revisited.
His death was confirmed by his spouse, Daniel D. Routhier.
Venza was working as a television producer when he was asked to collaborate with other innovators assembled by the Ford Foundation in the early 1960s. Their goal was to transform a limited service into National Educational Television, which later became the Public Broadcasting Service.
Venza pushed a simple concept for bringing high art to the masses: “Why don’t we entertain them, too?”
He introduced Net Playhouse, Theater in America, Live From Lincoln Center, Great Performances” and, at the suggestion of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dance in America. He also imported popular BBC productions like Brideshead Revisited.
- 6/2/2024
- by Bruce Haring
- Deadline Film + TV
Jac Venza, the PBS producer who pioneered programs such as Great Performances and Live From Lincoln Center, has died. He was 97.
Venza died Tuesday at his home in Lyme, Connecticut, his spouse, Daniel D. Routhier, told The New York Times.
Venza began work designing sets at CBS in 1950 before going on to lead cultural programming at National Education Television in 1964. That would become the Wnet Group, home of New York’s flagship PBS station, Channel 13.
“I realized,” Venza told the Times in 1982, “that the finest artists had not been asked to join television in a major way. To succeed, public television needed performances.”
Venza launched the Emmy-winning Great Performances in 1972, which also included Live From Lincoln Center, Theater in America and Dance in America. Over the years, he worked with the likes of George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Leonard Bernstein, Tennessee Williams and more. Dustin Hoffman appeared in his first...
Venza died Tuesday at his home in Lyme, Connecticut, his spouse, Daniel D. Routhier, told The New York Times.
Venza began work designing sets at CBS in 1950 before going on to lead cultural programming at National Education Television in 1964. That would become the Wnet Group, home of New York’s flagship PBS station, Channel 13.
“I realized,” Venza told the Times in 1982, “that the finest artists had not been asked to join television in a major way. To succeed, public television needed performances.”
Venza launched the Emmy-winning Great Performances in 1972, which also included Live From Lincoln Center, Theater in America and Dance in America. Over the years, he worked with the likes of George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Leonard Bernstein, Tennessee Williams and more. Dustin Hoffman appeared in his first...
- 6/2/2024
- by Zoe G Phillips
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
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