Sesame Workshop

Sesame Workshop (SW, or "the Workshop"), formerly known as the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), is an American non-profit organization behind the production of several educational children's programs—including its first and best-known, Sesame Street—that have run on public broadcasting around the world. Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and foundation executive Lloyd Morrisett came up with the idea to form an organization to oversee the production of Sesame Street, a television show which would help children, especially those from low-income families, prepare for school. They spent two years, from 1966 to 1968, researching, developing, and raising money for the new show. Cooney was named as the Workshop's first executive director, which was called "one of the most important television developments of the decade".

Sesame Street premiered on PBS in the United States on November 10, 1969, and the Workshop was formally incorporated shortly after, in 1970. Gerald S. Lesser and Edward L. Palmer were hired to conduct research for the show; they were responsible for developing a system of planning, production, and evaluation, and the interaction between television producers and educators, later called the "CTW model". They also hired a staff of producers and writers. After the initial success of Sesame Street, they began to plan for its continued survival, which included procuring additional sources of funding and creating other TV shows. The early 1980s were a challenging period for the Workshop; difficulty in finding audiences for their other productions and a series of bad investments hurt the organization until licensing agreements stabilized its revenues by 1985.

After Sesame Street's initial success, the CTW began to think about its survival beyond the development and first season of the show, since their funding sources were made up of organizations and institutions that tended to start projects, not sustain them. Government funding ended by 1981, so the CTW expanded into other areas, including unsuccessful ventures into adult programs, the publications of books and music, international co-productions, interactive media and new technologies, licensing arrangements, and outreach programs to preschools. By 2005, income from the CTW's international co-productions of the show was $96 million. By 2008, the Sesame Street Muppets accounted for $15–17 million per year in licensing and merchandising fees. Cooney stepped down as CEO in 1990; David Britt was named as her replacement. In June 2000, the CTW changed its name to Sesame Workshop, to better reflect its work beyond television and into interactive media, and Gary Knell became CEO. H. Melvin Ming replaced Knell in 2011. In 2014, Ming was succeeded by Jeffrey D. Dunn.