PROVINCETOWN — There is a lot going on upstairs at 330 Commercial St.
There, at the headquarters of Provincetown Community Television, or PTV, sits a community video and multimedia hub surrounded by a wealth of talent and creativity.
“We have been evaluating all of our systems and making strides to make PTV more accessible. We want both the government and public access videos, and also the process for checking out equipment and producing shows, to be easier,” says Heather Reed, PTV’s community relations director. “We redesigned our website, which will launch in the next week.”
PTV is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing a public forum for Provincetown residents, governmental and educational institutions, and other non-profits. On its website it states that it “strives to involve the diverse population of Provincetown as producers and viewers,” and to strengthen its efforts by collaborating with a variety of community organizations.
A recent reorganization of the station’s staff placed Reed, along with PTV’s public access director Amy Davies and government programming director Melissa Yeaw, at the helm, dividing the director’s position formerly occupied by Beth O’Rourke.
How much energy PTV can tap into will be apparent when PTV’s attempt to document 24 hours of life in Provincetown gets underway next month. The goal is for people of all ages and backgrounds to contribute.
“#Ptown24” will commence at 6 a.m. on Aug. 13 and run for 24 straight hours until 6 a.m. the following morning. Tim McCarthy, video historian and filmmaker at LipTV, is partnering with PTV in the project. PTV will offer snacks, coffee and water as well as technical support to all the participants.
“We want to encourage everyone to go shoot a little video of Provincetown and tag it with #ptown24 from Aug. 13 at 6 a.m. to Aug. 14 at 6 a.m. to create a living history and portrait of a day in our town,” says Reed.
For Reed, who started working at PTV in January, this is about raising the level of awareness so that more people participate at a variety of levels. It is also about having fun and learning how to do it right.
Access to equipment is on a first-come, first-served basis to any PTV member once they have completed training for the piece of equipment.
PTV’s public access director Amy Davies points to a long list of recent projects involving organizations and individuals that demonstrate how well, and how often, the public is using PTV’s resources and resident expertise. When Helping Our Women needed help shooting videos for its Outer Cape HomeShare grant’s toolkit, for instance, the station trained four community volunteers in a three-day course that covered pre-production, digital camera operation and interviewing skills.
Page 2 of 3 – Volunteer member Rik Ahlberg came into PTV to volunteer for a comedy short produced by comedian Kristen Becker. He never left, and now tapes almost everything from the community group Provincetown 365’s meetings to the film festival. On Saturday night, he was out at the Province Lands taping the Cape Dance Festival.
“Members can make a program about any subject they are interested in. I have found most people in Provincetown are interested in making programs about events and people in town. They enjoy telling the stories of their town,” said Davies.
An example is Elspeth Vevers’ program “The Quest,” a 30-minute documentary about the building and launch of Stormy Mayo’s schooner Istar.
“Elspeth shot the launch of the boat, and then interviewed Stormy and his wife Laura,” said Davies. “The best part of my job is watching people come into the studio with an idea and guiding them through the shooting and editing process. It is great to see someone learn a new skill and complete a project.”
The PTV Government Channel — Comcast channel 18 — has rules and routines which are more structured. The people who record the various meetings in Town Hall are not volunteers or video wannabes. They tend to be seasoned videographers who are hired to do a job. They need to be ready to go live on local cable TV when the meetings start.
What Melissa Yeaw, PTV’s government programming director, likes about her job is that it gives her the opportunity to “provide the public with this important service, and to also try to improve the service.”
“I love Provincetown and the different personalities that make up this quirky, lovely town. I like my co-workers. I like using my video skills,” said Yeaw.
Recently, Yeaw made “Selectmen Speak: Five Provincetown Selectmen on Being a Selectman,” a 27-minute documentary-style video. The show “explores the duties they perform, the challenges they face, and their motivations for serving as a selectman. I enjoyed making this because I got to truly understand the job of a selectman, and I also got to know the people on the board in a more personal way,” said Yeaw.
Although selectmen’s meetings are tightly scheduled, the meetings held by the town’s regulatory boards “can shift a lot, so organization is my biggest challenge,” said Yeaw.
PTV is switching over to a cloud-based software for equipment checkout that will also allow members to put out and answer crew calls.
“Members will be able to reserve equipment, put out a call for crew, and schedule their shoot from the comfort of their own homes,” said Reed. “This will help build the media making community in Provincetown and make the Public Access side of PTV more accessible and functional for the community.”
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