WQPT will celebrate our country’s upcoming semiquincentennial through a new community initiative, “America 250.”
Throughout the year, the public television station located on Western Illinois University’s Quad Cities Riverfront campus in Moline will be asking community members “What is your Civic Spark?” The new initiative also invites the public to volunteer with WQPT as it supports the mission of other nonprofit organizations in our community.
Throughout the upcoming months WQPT will be airing/streaming many programs about America’s history and culture, and what shaped it into the country we love.
This programming began with a new WQPT production, the 250th Anniversary of the Army. You can see it online here. To create this anthology, the station explored its archives and rediscovered powerful interviews conducted throughout the years.
“It has always been very important to us to share the history of our military as well as personal stories of veterans and those currently serving,” Dawn Schmitt, WQPT’s general manager, said in a news release.
This fall, WQPT will be airing/streaming “The American Revolution” from Ken Burns, Sarah Botstein and David Schmidt. This six-part, twelve-hour series on America’s founding struggle will present the story of the men and women of the Revolutionary generation, their humanity in victory and defeat, and the crisis that they lived through.
In September, WQPT will host a screening of excerpts from this new documentary series, followed by a discussion panel relating our region’s role as the western most battle site during the American Revolution.
In addition, WQPT is creating a new digital series. It is asking community members “What is your civic spark, and what motivates you to give back to the community?” New episodes will be released weekly. Follow WQPT’s YouTube channel to watch. The first episode is here.
If you would like to share your civic spark, or volunteer with WQPT, contact [email protected]
