Vision Maker Media, founded in 1976 as the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium, is celebrating its 45th anniversary.

“What began as a film archive has transformed into the nation’s public-media leader in content by and about America’s first people — Native Americans and Alaska Natives — for public broadcasting,” says Executive Director Francene Blythe-Lewis (Eastern Cherokee, Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota and Diné).

With continuous support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, Vision Maker Media’s mission empowering and engaging Native people to share their stories remains meaningful.

Currently, Vision Maker Media has 34 films in public-media broadcasting. Vision Maker Media’s content reaches nearly 90 million Americans on public television series, including Independent Lens, POV, America ReFramed, American Masters and others.

“Every day since its founding 45 years ago, Vision Maker Media, then known as the Native American Public Broadcasting Consortium, has never wavered in its mission to share Native stories with the world that represent the cultures, experiences, and values of Native Americans,” says Kathryn Washington, senior vice president of Television Content, Corporation for Public Broadcasting. “CPB is proud to be one of its earliest supporters. We congratulate them on this big anniversary and wish them continued success in fulfilling such an important mission.”

A yearlong celebration of free community events, including thematic online film screenings, online virtual programs and more. The Cherokee Nation Film Office is a 45th anniversary sponsor. Learn more here.

Based at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Vision Maker Media is the premiere source of public media by and about Native Americans since 1976. Their mission is empowering and engaging Native people to share stories. We envision a world changed and healed by understanding Native stories and the public conversations they generate. We work with VMM funded producers to develop, produce and distribute programs for all public media. VMM supports training to increase the number of American Indians and Alaska Natives producing public broadcasting programs. A key strategy for this work is partnerships with Tribal nations, Indian organizations and Native communities. Reaching the general public and the global market is the ultimate goal for the dissemination of Native public media that shares Native perspectives with the world. Vision Maker Media is a nonprofit funded in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.