FAQ
Education & Training
You can visit cctvcambridge.org/learn to view our upcoming classes.
Already know which class you want to take? Great, click on the class to register or email learn@cctvcambridge.org
The good news: no, anyone can take classes at CCTV!
The better news: CCTV members can take classes at free/reduced cost!
CCTV members receive an email upon registering that provides you with a coupon code.
Can't find it? Email learn@cctvcambridge.org
First, check out our on demand library of classes and media production tutorials.
And we welcome class ideas from our community! Email learn@cctvcambridge.org with classes you'd like to see and we will try our best to get them on the schedule.
Excellent! We'd love to have you!
Email learn@cctvcambridge.org to get the conversation started.
Youth Media
The Youth Media Program is a year round media arts program for high school students. We are directly funded by our local city partners, Enroot, Next Up, Cambridge Housing Authority’s Workforce Development Program, and the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program.
The Youth Media Program is comprised of two components:
The School Year Production Program (SYPP) is an afterschool program designed to provide teens with an opportunity to develop career readiness, media production skills, confidence, and portfolio building experience.
The Summer Media Institute (SMI) is a six-week work experience and media production program run through a partnership with the Mayor's Summer Youth Employment Program. Each summer, teens in the program attend workshops and learn: how to operate cameras, professional editing, lighting and audio, animation and graphic design, media art, technical production, and computer application skills. As participants develop media skills, they are paid to work as media artists while producing a variety of projects.
In order to join the School Year Production Program, you must be qualified for and enroll in one of these programs: Enroot, Next Up, Cambridge Housing Authority’s Workforce Development Program.
In order to join the Summer Media Institute you must apply to the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. Please visit their site for more information regarding qualifications, deadlines and the application form.
We are now offering internships for those who have recently graduated and/or are pursuing higher education.
- Learn more about our Youth Internship (Media Arts Teaching Artist)
- or enroll in Next Up’s internship program
If you have a specific interest in creating your own concentration within the Youth Internship, please specify in your application.
For specific inquiries, please email at ymp@cctvcambridge.org
To stay up to date with our program, you may follow us on Instagram or reach out to ymp@cctvcambridge.org for program updates and opportunities.
Hosting a Live Show
In order to host a live show at CCTV, one must become a CCTV member. The producer will then be able to fill out a Live Application Agreement Form, select a time slot that best suits them, and get trained by the programming manager. After that, you are LIVE on channel 9!
Episodes stay in the Google Drive folder for 7 days before it gets rewritten by a new episode. That drive can be found here.
Submitting a Program
Become a member!
Please fill out our Program Distribution Agreement form.
If you'd like to air your program without becoming a member please contact us at programming@cctvcambridge.org.
Create a Podcast
All Podcast producers must fill out this form and become a CCTV member, which includes the use of our podcast studio, editing suite, as well as multiple CCTV class offerings and trainings.
After one or two training sessions in the podcast studio, the podcast producers are responsible for set-up and breakdown of equipment, bringing their own 16GB or 32 GB SD cards, editing MP3 audio and video version if needed, cover-art and graphics for promotional use, and the overall completion of the podcast episode.
Once ready to air and distribute, the podcast producer sends the final product to the podcast coordinator either online or via an SD card or a hard drive.
Rentals
If you're not a member, you can contact Productionservices@cctvcambridge.org and we will let you know the rates.
If you're not a member, you can rent any of the rooms listed above through Peerspace or contact Productionservices@cctvcambridge.org and we will let you know the rates.
Reserving Equipment/Studios
To borrow equipment, to book time in the studio, to become a member, or to visit CCTV, please send an email to reserve@CCTVCambridge.org.
CCTV is open to the public:
- Mon 1-8pm (except federal holiday weekends)
- Tue 1-8pm
- Wed 1-8pm
- Thu 1-8pm
Production Services
To get an event covered by CCTV, please fill out this form. If the event is held in Cambridge, open to the public, and not commercial by nature, you could be eligible for coverage.
Karen Aqua Gallery
The Karen Aqua Gallery at Cambridge Community Television is a forum for visual art, particularly for
Cambridge artists to exhibit work to educate, inspire, or serve the Cambridge community.
Located in CCTV’s community media center in Central Square, the gallery is open to the public and attracts people from all walks of life.
To visit the Karen Aqua Gallery, please send an email to reserve@CCTVCambridge.org or call 617-661-6900 to schedule a viewing.
CCTV's gallery is named for local filmmaker Karen Aqua (1954-2011)
The Karen Aqua Gallery (a remembrance by Cecily Miller)
Raised in a small town in Pennsylvania, Karen discovered animation at Rhode Island School of Design, where she became fascinated by its potential to bring imagined worlds to life. "Once I saw my drawings move," she told The Boston Globe in 1994, "it was a big magical connection." She made 13 independent films - magical films - over the next 35 years, mostly by hand. Karen was prolific, creating hundreds of thousands of drawings and cut-outs. Her films were distinctive for their rhythm and musicality; their diverse soundtracks were frequently created by her husband and collaborator, composer Ken Field. The two met by chance, under a lucky star, during a trip across the country, and forged a life-long partnership.
Karen balanced countless hours of solitary time in the studio with an adventurous life filled with collaboration, music, dance, travel, love, friendships, and joy - all of which you can see woven through her art. In addition to her award- winning personal work, she made 22 films for Sesame Street and taught at Emerson and Boston Colleges and during community-based educational projects. Karen's vital and creative spirit will be missed by the wide community of people she touched and often brought together. We will remember her beautiful smile and welcoming warmth, her curiosity, humor and sense of play, her generosity and concern for others, and, of course, her inimitable way with color, patterns, feathers and sequins.
Karen died 10 years after her diagnosis of ovarian cancer. Her courage in the face of this disease was remarkable. True to form she was productive to the end, completing a final film and, just a week before her death, winning a prestigious Artist Fellowship Grant from the Massachusetts Cultural Council. One day before she died, Karen's friend Isabel sent her this message, a tribute to the strength of Karen's spirit and vision:
Although you are back in the hospital again, with machines all around, I know that all the world is there in your mind's eye - the canyon walls with their pictographs coming to life, the sun and sand, the flowering cactus, the ticking insects with painted backs, dancing birds with long legs and tufted heads, the sea and waves and breezes - all of creation humming away.
What's Up at CCTV?
You can read our latest newsletter here and check out our latest Annual Report here. To read past newsletters or annual reports, please visit our Resources Page.
You can sign up for our weekly e-blasts and quarterly newsletters here. And you can follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn!
More Info About CCTV
CCTV is open to the public:
- Mon 1-8pm (except federal holiday weekends)
- Tue 1-8pm
- Wed 1-8pm
- Thu 1-8pm
Contact reserve@cctvcambridge.org to book an appointment.
The Board of Directors governs CCTV and oversees the work of the Executive Director who supervises CCTV staff and volunteers. The Board works to ensure that our programs are addressing the needs of the community.
Cambridge Community Television operates as a 501c3 non-profit and our funding comes mainly from cable franchise fees, foundation gifts and individual donors. We also charge membership fees and create productions for hire.
In recent years, funding to community media stations has been threatened by a decrease in cable revenues (so-called cord cutting). Bills have been introduced to impose similar fees on streaming channels and community media centers across the country have been looking at their revenue model to find ways of being sustainable without relying on the diminishing cable franchise fees. Cambridge Community Television is no different, and we have been working on some exciting ideas.
We'd love to share our revenue reimagination journey with you! Please let us know if you'd like to learn more.
No, you can watch those on Cityview 22, a channel that is not managed by CCTV.
No, we no longer have a community calendar.
You can tag us on social media (@cctvcambridge) and we will be happy to share your event.
We are a non commercial station so we don't run ads.
But if you are a business you can become an underwriter of CCTV and we will thank you on our channels.