The Origins of ETC

The original Educating Toward Change Society, Exploring Television with Children, was a non-profit Society created in 1980 for the purpose of working with young people in making quality television that expressed their ideas and reflected their potential.

Under this mandate Educating Toward Change Society has produced innovative programs and has received commendations from its audiences and the community. These include OWL TV Foundation, the Children's Broadcast Institute of Canada, The Association for Media Education, Alcohol and Drug Research Foundation, Toronto Hospital for Sick Children, Knowledge Network and others.

Project budgets have ranged from $5,000 to $95,000 with support from funders including the Secretary of State, Canada Council, BC Ministries of the Attorney General and Women's Equality, the Vancouver Foundation and the Law Foundation of British Columbia.

More than 300 Victoria area young people have been involved over the years and have gone on to work in community theatre, television and other media venues.

Many thousands of Canadian children and their families have benefited from watching ETC television programming. Recent programming in the area of legal education has provided important information to B.C. community and justice sector workers and the public at large.

ETC Society Today

After a short period of inactivity, ETC was rejuvenated in 1995 and re-named ETC: Educating Toward Change Society. While its connection with youth remains strong, it has expanded its mandate to address a broader range of contemporary social issues confronting our communities. The philosophy remains the same but the mission of ETC is now expressed as follows:

To support the production of educational programming which documents and promotes social justice and healthy communities in areas such as housing, health, human rights, education, employment, environment and the arts, the law and other areas of social concern by:

  • directly involving children, youth, and women, and those most at risk in our community, in media production.
  • producing new media projects which support community-based efforts for change and social justice.
  • extending the reach of each production and its ability to educate for progressive social change by recruiting/involving members of the community in promotion, use and distribution of these programs.
  • developing innovative partnerships in order to support and enhance goals of the society.

Board of Directors

  • Maureen Bradley — President
  • Heather MacAndrew — Vice-President
  • Peter Campbell — Secretary/Treasurer
  • Kate Frieson — Director
  • Joan Tarrant — Director
  • Penny Joy — Director
  • Darryl Whetung — Director