Jac Venza Dies: Producer Who Transformed Public Television Was 97
deadline.comJac Venza, who was a key to helping American television in the 1960s and ’70s transform into a bastion of top-notch cultural programming, including Great Performances and Live From Lincoln Center, died May 28 at his home in Lyme, Connecticut.
He was 97. His death was confirmed by his spouse, Daniel D. Routhier. Venza was working as a television producer when he was asked to collaborate with other innovators assembled by the Ford Foundation in the early 1960s.
Their goal was to transform a limited service into National Educational Television, which later became the Public Broadcasting Service.
Venza pushed a simple concept for bringing high art to the masses: “Why don’t we entertain them, too?” He introduced NET Playhouse, Theater in America, Live From Lincoln Center, Great Performances” and, at the suggestion of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dance in America.
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