Two Brooklyn public media organizations are among 13 winners of a 2013 MacArthur Award for Creative and Effective Institutions, being announced Thursday by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
StoryCorps, which records and collects oral histories, and its occasional collaborator American Documentary, which produces the PBS series “POV,†will receive $1 million each. Dave Isay, StoryCorps’ founder and a 2000 MacArthur Genius Grant winner, said in a telephone interview that in addition to bolstering reserves, the money would go toward making StoryCorps’ digital archive of more than 45,000 (and growing) stories publicly available. StoryCorps owns the stories’ rights, but “we have to be very, very careful,†Mr. Isay said, citing concerns about privacy and identity theft.
Simon Kilmurry, American Documentary’s executive director, said by phone that the award would both aid the constructio of a public screening room and “give us a real solid financial base,†including some unrestricted funds to support projects and films.
Among the other winners, Housing Partnership Network, a Boston organization that facilitates collaboration among affordable housing and community development leaders, was awarded the largest grant, $1.5 million.
