E-Media Executive Director Jeff Mastroianni provides updates to the organization during its annual meeting on June 13.
Photo credit: E-Media
EASTHAMPTON — On June 13, E-Media — formerly known as Easthampton Media — conducted its annual meeting in Eastworks to provide updates on the present and future of the community media center and public access television station.
During his speaking portion of the meeting, E-Media Executive Director Jeff Mastroianni recapped what has occurred over the past three years. He mentioned how the media center, which is located at Eastworks in Suite 102, collected grant money to upgrade lighting, cameras and studio equipment.
He then provided positive updates, like how E-Media’s studio productions have gone up 250% and the organization’s podcasts are up 200%. He also mentioned how the organization has hosted more than a dozen live events in their studio, including eight Art Walk events, and several film screenings.
“All great stuff happening,” said Mastroianni, who added that E-Media is also incorporating a new membership management platform developed with help from NewTV in Newton.
“We’re hoping by this time next year, we’ll be using that specifically and exclusively to help our members with equipment rentals for producers to be able to communicate with each other and really streamline the process of communicating with our members,” Mastroianni said of the new platform.
Despite many positives from the year, Mastroianni also provided some of the challenges E-Media currently faces. He said that cable subscription rates have plummeted in the city from 7,040 10 years ago to a little over 4,200 this past year.
This decrease hurts E-Media because the organization is “basically funded” by cable subscribers, according to Mastroianni.
“That’s a significant challenge that we’re going to really have to work hard to overcome,” Mastroianni said.
To solve the issue, Mastroianni said E-Media is currently looking at other sources of revenue, like production services.
But the bigger, more consequential path for greater revenue is through the city’s recently-finished Digital Equity Plan, a 95-page document that lays out Easthampton’s future goals of enhancing the access, affordability and adoption of broadband in Easthampton.
According to Mastroianni, E-Media is applying for some grant money through the Massachusetts Broadband Initiative, and the city as a whole is working to bring digital equity to Easthampton.
“As we’re looking at this as a real opportunity, not just for us, but for community access centers really everywhere, because this is the kind of thing we’ve been doing essentially,” Mastroianni said.
E-Media will be hosting a fellowship in September, where national service program Lead For America will be implementing initiatives laid out by the city’s digital equity plan, according to Mastroianni.
“We’ll be coordinating with other nonprofit organizations that are working toward these digital equity initiatives,” Mastroianni said. “And essentially, we’ll be working here in Eastworks and with some of our stakeholders like the library, the Council on Aging, the senior center and so forth … I’m confident down the road that this will help maintain our relevancy in the community.”
During its annual meeting, E-Media also announced Wren Ribeiro from Inner Fortune as the producer of the year for the organization. Ribeiro created her first full season of broadcasts of her program Mujéres Co-Labor 4 Peace, which covers intimate conversations about healing the effects of misogyny, capitalism and climate change.
