And then create content on multiple touch points,” Youngwood adds. “We’re trying to identify the issues most important to kids and families. “It’s both the reality of the world that keeps me up at night, but it also energizes me because it’s both a necessity and an opportunity.” “The world changes pretty quickly and we are trying constantly always to evolve,” Youngwood says.
SESAME WORKSHOP TV
The organization may have been born through a single TV show airing on a public broadcast network, but it now produces content for a wide range of sources, including, yes, PBS and HBO Max, where the flagship program airs and streams, but also YouTube, where the next generation of families often turns first for kids content, and for WhatsApp, in parts of the world where the Meta-owned messaging app is the dominant form of communication. Sesame Street’s renewed focus on identity comes as Sesame Workshop is in the midst of redefining itself, not only through the content it creates, but also through the platforms it produces for. And in the spring of 2023 “you’re going to see us prioritize beginning next year, emotional health and wellbeing, you know, again, always an issue, but one elevated by COVID,” he adds. Youngwood says that COVID-induced learning gaps made those issues all the more important to tackle. And that sort of brings the joy.”īut Sesame Street will not be forgoing the “foundational skills” kids need to grow up, be it language, math, or other critical subjects.
“It starts with making them feel good about themselves, and getting them to respect others. “We learned that in the moment, that pointedness was right, but here, we’re going to have a broader impact and really prepare children for the diverse world that they live in,” Youngwood says. Now, the organization is taking it a step further, weaving the lessons it learned from those specials into episodes throughout the season. Sesame Street responded with special episodes focusing on those topical issues, and hosted CNN town halls that could be viewed by the entire family where they could be addressed. “That’s always been in our DNA and after the events in 2020 - not just COVID but really more importantly, George Floyd and the conversations that it started - it made us say, you know, we’ve always been about this, but the world is in a slightly different place and the conversations that we have to have, and we got a bit more pointed,” he added. “And so the top of the funnel is it has to be fun, it has to be joyful, and it has to be engaging, but we do it in order to educate.” “We’re an educational media organization, we entertain in order to educate,” Youngwood says. 2020, as the impact from the Floyd protests were still being felt, and with concerns over COVID and education on the top of minds.Īnd so Sesame Street’s 53rd season will see it lean into the notion of “identity and belonging.” Youngwood was named CEO of Sesame Workshop in Oct. “In a fragmented world, you know, quality helps people break through the clutter, and we focus on doing what we do, innovating and staying relevant,” Sesame Workshop CEO Steve Youngwood tells The Hollywood Reporter in an Interview. 'Love & Death' Team Recall the "Big Surprise" of Learning Another Candy Montgomery Story Was Coming to TV
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