Meet two of the founding team members who helped make Curationist real: What brought you to Curationist? Christian Dawson: The MHz Foundation has been educating people in America about cultures of the world through broadcasting arts and culture programming over the air. Traditional over-the-air broadcasts were becoming less feasible and were also becoming less relevant…
Read More »Since its inception, MHz has been committed to bringing global content and perspectives to North American audiences.
Founded as MHz Networks in 2001, it originated as an American broadcaster and project of the Commonwealth Public Broadcasting Corporation (CPBC), servicing the Washington, D.C. marketplace with international television programming, namely Chinese, Russian, French, South African and Turkish programs.
After twelve years of operation, CPBC formed MHz Networks in 2013 as a non-profit entity. MHz Networks existed to carry forward the broadcast operations to service their local American market with rich cultural content from around the world. Within the exit agreement, MHz Networks would continue to broadcast on CPBC’s spectrum with a stipulation that if ever CPBC were to sell off their spectrum rights, MHz Networks would receive a portion of the proceeds.
In 2015 MHz Networks changed its name to MHz Foundation. At the same time, a new independent for-profit entity was created under the name MHz Networks, LLC., which operates MHz Choice, a subscription-based streaming service that continued to offer access to international content. Divesting for-profit activities allowed MHz Foundation to focus on its non-profit mission to enrich and champion global content curation.
Also In 2015, CPBC began the process of auctioning off under-utilized spectrum licenses under an incentive option of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) who sought to reclaim traditional spectrum of under-utilized wavelengths, in order to foster innovation within the space. Under the agreement with CPBC, MHz Foundation shared a portion of their auction proceeds. This served as the seed revenue for MHz Foundation’s public interest activities moving forward.
Today, the MHz Foundation expands its reach beyond the Metro DC area to the world through the launch of MHz Curationist in early 2019. Curationist’s mission to make global arts and culture accessible to all.
The MHz Foundation is a Virginia-based 501(c)(3) corporation.
Christian Dawson is Executive Director of MHz Foundation, where he works to use the Internet as a tool to bring us closer together as a global society. Dawson is also Co-founder of Open-i Advisors Inc., as well as the Internet Infrastructure Coalition. Before that, Dawson spent nearly two decades leading web hosting provider ServInt. He is a staunch advocate for Internet freedom as a tool for social and economic growth.
Hilary Osborne is Sponsorship Director of MHz Foundation. Osborne serves as MHz Foundation's central coordinator for engaging and recruiting new sponsors, and is the chief driver of growth for the organization. Osborne has 10 years of experience working in nonprofit communities. Osborne graduated from George Brown College with a degree in editing.
Virginia Poundstone is the Content Curation Director at the MHz Foundation, leading the emergent vision for Curationist. Based in New York City she is a visual artist educator MICA she taught core classes as well as courses she designed: Publishing as Form was a course that critically examined publishing or making ideas public and disseminated; Objects of Networks, considered the functional purpose of connection and how objects in networks shape our world and thinking. As a part-time lecturer from 2009-2013 at Parsons The New School of Design she taught across the School of Design Strategies and the School of Art History and Design History and Theory. In addition to core courses like Critical Reading and Writing and 3D Studio courses she also proposed and designed NYC: Fooda class that explored the food systems of the city. In 2011 she was a visiting professor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts in the visual arts program where, in 2009, she earned her MFA. She is a founding board member and current Co-Executive Director of the Bed Stuy Parents Committee, a volunteer grassroots non-profit advocating for school equity. She is also a member of Brooklyn’s Community Board 3 Youth & Education Committee and Community School District 16’s Diversity Alliance. She was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant Agnes Varis Fellowship Howard Foundation Fellowship and has had numerous residencies at fantastic places like Pioneer Works the Banff Center for Art and the MacDowell Colony.
Bree Dodd brings extensive experience and expertise in the field of technical and operational project management for many notable organizations across multiple industries. When not guiding projects towards successful completion, Bree operates a yoga studio in Richmond, VA.
Ms. Davis earned her BA (Management) and her MBA (Finance) from Baker College. Professionally, she spent 15 years as the Controller for a $14 million service company before starting her own business in 2009. She has nearly 25 years of experience working with companies in many different business sectors.
Brandon J. Roy brings to Open-i Advisors his rich experience in luxury brand management in the consumer goods industry, advertising account management in the health sector and fund development in the not-for-profit sector.
The majority of his career to date has been spent at the L’Oréal Group where he held the title of Marketing Manager for a portfolio of luxury cosmetics brands in the Canadian market, developing a breadth of expertise in 360-strategy development and deployment alongside digital and marketing executions within a fast-paced, dynamic industry.
By Postal Mail:
MHz Foundation
2920 W. Broad St. #22-C
Richmond, VA 23230
By Email:
info@mhzfoundation.org
