The Sloan Foundation is a leader in supporting STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) education and initiatives. For several years, they provided grants to the Public Radio Exchange to develop STEM-related media. PRX asked us what we could create.
We launched The Experimenters, a series dedicated to reimagining rarely heard conversations with icons of STEM. Searching archives, libraries, and university holdings, we uncovered candid conversations with the likes of Carl Sagan, Sally Ride, and Temple Grandin.
The series debuted in 2015, as a podcast, segments for public radio, and an animated series. We also secured additional funding from Squarespace, which allowed us to expand production to create eight, 4-minute animated shorts. Each film was created by a guest animator to give each a distinct, experimental-feel.
To date, the series has been viewed nearly 750k times.
