LeVar Burton Kickstarts new Reading Rainbow, blows past goal

[Executor32]

So LeVar Burton took to Kickstarter yesterday to seek funding for a web-based revival of Reading Rainbow, with a $1 million goal. That goal was reached just after midnight last night, Pacific time:



As of this post, he's managed to raise over $2.3 million, and there's still over a month to go on the Kickstarter. It's well on the way to being the top Kickstarter project ever, and I can't think of one more worthy of that status.

[Ahriman238]

That's great! Quality edutainment is sort of lacking at the moment.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Lacking? Cosmos is in full swing. Games and software like Kerbal Space Program are poised to revolutionize many education concepts. The Internet serves as a direct delivery mechanism for information and education on an unprecedented speed and scale. We are living in the god-damned Golden Age of Education (or we could be, if we start kicking our 20th century public education system in the ass).

As for Reading Rainbow specifically, I'm glad to see this do well. It was always one of my favorites as a kid, but don't take my word for it.

[Simon_Jester]

Totally agree; Reading Rainbow is past awesome. Now if only they could resurrect Square One...


Also... I assure you, Gaius, our asses have been kicked black and blue.

What you really need to ask is, who should be kicking the asses of the public schools, and why? Because right now most of the boots are on the wrong feet, kicking us in the wrong direction.

[Crossroads Inc.]

Mmm my Nostalgia factor is into full swing…

I remember the "golden age" of educational television…
321 Contact!
Connections
Newton's Apple
Golden times!!!

[Darth Nostril]

Schools don't need their asses kicking, the fucking politicians do.

[Channel72]

Totally agree; Reading Rainbow is past awesome. Now if only they could resurrect Square One...

Yes, I'm feeling nostalgic for Mathman and Mr. Glitch. They taught me about fractions.

[phred]

Mmm my Nostalgia factor is into full swing…

I remember the "golden age" of educational television…
321 Contact!
Connections
Newton's Apple
Golden times!!!

you forgot The Electric Company

[Crossroads Inc.]

Huh, for some reason I thought that they were just a Production company for a lot of there early PBS education shows.
I didn't know they were a show in itself.

[Ahriman238]

And? We had Wishbone, Bill Nye the Science Guy, Reader Rabbit, Schoolhouse Rock and the whole Learning Company suite of games. You know, the Treasure ______ games, Gizmos and Gadgets, Midnight Rescue and Outburst.

[FSTargetDrone]

I watched a lot of these when I was growing up!

[Jaepheth]

Seth MacFarlane Vows To Match Donations Made In 'Reading Rainbow' Fundraising Effort

LOS ANGELES (AP) — LeVar Burton's "Reading Rainbow" fundraising effort is getting a boost from a generous pal, Seth MacFarlane.

MacFarlane has promised to match up to $1 million in pledges made on the Kickstarter website so that an online version of "Reading Rainbow" can be made available without charge to an expanded number of underfunded classrooms, Burton said in a statement Thursday.

MacFarlane's offer is in effect through 3 p.m. EDT on July 2, when the online fundraiser is to conclude.

Burton said he was left nearly speechless by the "extraordinary generosity" of his friend, the TV and movie writer-producer-actor whose credits include "Ted" and "Family Guy." MacFarlane's spokeswoman confirmed the offer.

MacFarlane jumped in after hearing that "Reading Rainbow" needed to raise at least $5 million, Burton said. The Kickstarter campaign's initial goal was $1 million.

More than $4 million had been pledged by 83,000-plus contributors as of Thursday afternoon.

Burton, star of "Roots and "Star Trek: Next Generation," was host of the children's literacy program that aired on public television through 2009. "Reading Rainbow" was launched as a best-selling tablet app in 2012, and aims to expand its reach with a subscription-based home version that will start at $5 monthly.

An educator-specific format will be created for schools and made available free to 1,500 of the neediest classrooms with the first $1 million in donations, according to RRKidz, the for-profit company co-founded by Burton.

The additional donations, including from MacFarlane, will enable the format to be extended to at least another 6,000 such classrooms, according to Burton.

"It was my mother who taught me that, by picking up a book, I could 'go anywhere' and 'be anything,'" Burton said in a posting on Kickstarter.

Contributors can claim rewards ranging from autographed memorabilia to a private dinner with Burton to a chance to put on the visor that the actor wore on "Star Trek."

So with the matching I guess they only need to raise $500,000 more to get the 5 million goal. The donations seem to have petered out; I hope they make it, but I doubt they will unless another big name throws in a pile of cash.

[Broomstick]

The morning news shows all had stories about this over the last couple days, that might eke out a few more donations because it's definitely a feel-good story.

[bilateralrope]

That and Kickstarters tend to have a bathtube shape when you look at daily donations. Reading Rainbow looks like it isn't an exception. So I would expect the standard end of kickstarter spike.

[Raw Shark]

So with the matching I guess they only need to raise $500,000 more to get the 5 million goal. The donations seem to have petered out; I hope they make it, but I doubt they will unless another big name throws in a pile of cash.

If that's all they need, they're almost there. They've raised almost a third of a million since the MacFarlane announcement. I think they'll probably get the full million by or on the last day. Even I threw down a few bucks, and I'm a laughable pauper.

[bilateralrope]

Reading Rainbow' Closes Kickstarter Campaign At Over $5.4 Million.

According to LeVar Burton, the host of Reading Rainbow, one in four children in America are growing functionally illiterate. Over the last two years, millions of people have read books on the Reading Rainbow tablet app for iPad and Kindle Fire. Many teachers believe that the Reading Rainbow app should be accessible for free in classrooms and across additional platforms, which is why Burton launched a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign with a $1 million goal. That goal was surpassed in 11 hours.

The Reading Rainbow campaign has now closed after 35 days with $5,408,916 in total crowdfunding investment, provided by 105,857 backers. With the funding, Burton will expand the Reading Rainbow app to Android, Roku, Xbox and other mobile platforms. The app will now be available for free across thousands of classrooms in America. A classroom version of the app will be created for teachers and a web-enabled version of Reading Rainbow will be developed for the home, which is expected to launch in May.
Screenshot of the 'Reading Rainbow' Kickstarter website

Screenshot of the ‘Reading Rainbow’ Kickstarter website

Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy, promised to match every dollar pledged following the $4 million mark to the $5 million mark if the campaign reached $5 million. MacFarlane’s $1 million is separate from Kickstarter because the crowdfunding website has a $10,000 pledge limit per person. This means that Reading Rainbow now has over $6.4 million in total funding.

Reading Rainbow received the Kickstarter record for the most number of donors for a single project at 105,857. This beats ‘The Veronica Mars Movie Project’ with 91,585 donors, the ‘Double Fine Adventure’ game with 87,142 donors and the ‘Torment: Tides of Numenera’ game with 74,405 donors.

Reading Rainbow is the fifth most funded campaign in Kickstarter history. The top four are: Pebble ($10.2 million), OUYA ($8.5 million), Pono ($6.2 million) and the Veronica Mars movie ($5.7 million).

Some of the gifts that will be given to donors include bumper stickers, magnets, app subscriptions, books, t-shirts, mugs, tote bags, picnic blankets, a limited edition Reading Rainbow Ouya console, an autograph, a recorded voicemail from Burton, a picnic with him or a private dinner with him. The donors that gave $5,000 can choose a school of choice to be among the first to receive access to the app first. And donors that provided $10,000 can select either a school assembly or public library visit from Burton.

Burton’s company will provide free access to the app for a year to at least 7,500 classrooms using the first $5 million in crowdfunding investment. His company will use the other $400,000 to provide free access for thousands of more classrooms. ”Reading Rainbow is back for every child, everywhere,” said Burton in the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter promo video.

Reading Rainbow was originally a children’s TV show that aired 155 episodes on PBS between June 1983 and November 2006. The Reading Rainbow iPad and Kindle Fire app launched in 2012. The app was built by LeVar Burton and his company RRKIDZ. It has a massive library of e-books, virtual field trips starring Burton and a reward system for reading. In June 2012, Burton presented the app at Apple's AAPL +0.66% annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The app became one of the most downloaded educational apps in the Apple App Store after that.

[Iroscato]

Fantastic to hear, I've heard nothing but fond memories of Reading Rainbow so I'm very pleased they got this much support. Hopefully they can make full use of the new technology available and teach as many kids as possible.

[ZOmegaZ]

Totally agree; Reading Rainbow is past awesome. Now if only they could resurrect Square One...

Yes, I'm feeling nostalgic for Mathman and Mr. Glitch. They taught me about fractions.

Angle dance! An-gle dance! Find the point where two lines merrrge...