March 2025 was a very busy and exciting month at VPM! From hosting a major event with a famous filmmaker, to welcoming high school students to VPM’s headquarters for a tour, to collaborating with community partners on educational events for children, there was no shortage of ways that VPM served our communities over the last month.
Read more below about some of the highlights of VPM’s monthly community engagement activities.
Events
The Altria Theater was filled with history buffs on the evening of Sunday, Mar. 23 as VPM became the first station to host a public screening for renowned documentarian Ken Burns’ new documentary The American Revolution. Check out a slide show of photos for a special look inside the event! Over 3,400 people attended the preview screening of The American Revolution hosted by VPM at the Altria Theater, where attendees were treated to a 40-minute special program with clips of the six-part, 12-hour series, which will air on VPM PBS in November.
VPM once again served as a media sponsor for the Virginia Festival of the Book. This year’s event ran from Mar. 20-23 and included guest speakers, panel discussions, demonstrations, insights from authors and other presentations.
On Mar. 6, VPM Music host and producer Annie Parnell emceed the 11th annual Jazz4Justice benefit concert to raise money for pro bono legal aid and jazz scholarships. She also interviewed Taylor Barnett of VCUArts and guest artist Michael Philip Mossman on Jazz Weeknights.
Days prior, Annie also conducted a pre-concert talk in partnership with the Modlin Center for the Arts at the University of Richmond. Annie led a conversation with Billy Childs to learn more about his recent Grammy-winning jazz album, The Winds of Change. You can listen to the conversation here.
Tours
On Mar. 6, a Spanish class from Turner Ashby H.S. in Rockingham County visited VPM’s headquarters at 23 Sesame St. to learn more about what VPM does, how it operates and how it serves communities in Central Virginia. The class, taught by Ms. Abby Huffman, consists of students that both speak Spanish as a first language while the other half is learning Spanish. The students also got to connect with VPM multimedia reporter Keyris Manzanares and learn about her career.
Education
Throughout March, VPM’s Ready to Learn Learning Neighborhood initiative partnered with the Excellence in Children's Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL) Program to host Family Literacy Events at Summer Hill Preschool and Martin Luther King Preschool. These events provided families with parent's tips, activities and a book to support early writing skills.
This month, VPM also hosted a 3-workshop series to support computational thinking through the PBS KIDS show Work it Out Wombats. The workshops were hosted at North Avenue Library in partnership with the Excellence in Children's Early Language and Literacy (ExCELL) Program.
Impact
Did you know that the VPM News team published more than 3,000 news stories last year? Did you know that VPM won more than 30 national and regional awards in the same timeframe? For the first time, VPM’s work and achievements have been summarized in a single report recapping some of the most significant efforts in the most recent fiscal year. Take a look at VPM’s Annual Report for fiscal year 2023-2024.
Looking to learn more about VPM’s impact in our communities? Visit the VPM Impact Page.
