Annual Report 2020

In September 2019, KCTS 9 premiered Ken Burns’ Country Music, an incredible eight-part series about the history of country music, from its deep roots in ballads, hymns and blues to its mainstream popularity. In July – ahead of the series premiere – KCTS 9 partnered with the University of Washington Alumni Association to host a preview screening of the film on the UW campus, followed by a lively panel discussion featuring director/producer Ken Burns and his co-producer Julie Dunfey. More than 1000 community members came to hear the discussion, moderated by Billy Joe Huels of the country music group The Dusty 45s, who also performed at the event.

Crosscut Talks Live features one-on-one conversations and panel debates with newsmakers from around the region. In September 2019, Crosscut Talks Live featured a panel focused on the inequity in pay, media coverage and sponsorships that plagues women’s athletics. Approximately 50 community members came to the CPM studios to hear from the experts, including Teresa Predmore, co-owner of Reign FC; Amy Griffin, associate head coach of women’s soccer at UW; Ginny Gilder, co-owner of the Seattle Storm; and other elite athletes and coaches of women’s sports. Crosscut Talks Live discussions are recorded and available through the popular Crosscut Talks podcast series.

In November 2019, Crosscut Documentaries premiered The Rising, a new film about members of the Quinault tribe and their response to the effects of climate change along the coastline of the Pacific Northwest. Declining salmon stocks and rising sea levels are forcing the tribe to confront the reality of moving from the place they’ve inhabited for centuries. Perhaps paradoxically, this threat to their homeland overlaps with a resurgence in Quinault culture, language and leadership. The film captures the voices of the Quinault as they spread a message of climate resilience and a commitment to a sea that both sustains them and threatens them.

Like other booming cities around the U.S., Seattle is changing fast, and with those changes come challenges such as homelessness, an ever-increasing cost of living and transportation woes. In January 2020, Crosscut invited Mayor Jenny Durkan and City Council members Tammy Morales and Andrew Lewis to participate in a discussion about their plans for tackling the city’s biggest problems. Nearly 100 community members attended the discussion, which was held at the CPM studios in Seattle.

In February 2020, more than 500 community members joined KCTS 9 and travel expert Rick Steves at Town Hall Seattle for a first look at his one-hour special Hunger & Hope: Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala. In his hour-long special, which aired on KCTS 9 in March, Rick Steves travels through two countries that are tackling the issue head-on, with creative solutions that are showing remarkable promise. Following the screening, Rick took questions from the audience and shared what he had learned about the challenges of extreme poverty – and how those challenges can be met.

Crosscut partnered with Elliott Bay Books and the Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle to welcome Rahm Emanuel in March 2020 for an evening of conversation around his new book The Nation City: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World. More than 130 community members came to hear Emanuel, the former two-term mayor of Chicago and White House chief of staff for President Obama, as he shared his ideas about how cities – rather than the federal government – stand at the center of innovation and effective governance.