Classic Arts Showcase Celebrates 30th Anniversary

Classic Arts Showcase is the longest running broadcast and streaming platform for the arts.

Classic Arts Showcase (classicartsshowcase.org) is a not-for-profit 24-hour satellite programming service offered free of charge through local public service channels, and both cable and broadcast stations. It is available in more than 65 million TV households. And is live-streamed 24 hours a day on classicartsshowcase.org.

CAS was the vision of Lloyd E. Rigler. It was his lifelong love of the performing arts – and his concern that the majority of Americans are rarely exposed to the world’s greatest performances – that inspired this vision. After tracking ticket sales of live performances for decades, Rigler found arts organisations were performing to more empty seats every year, selling fewer tickets and charging more for them. With current audiences ageing, and little or no arts exposure in homes and schools to build new audiences, Rigler sought to foster a wider appreciation of classic arts nationwide — through television. He envisioned the creation of a 24-hour non-commercial arts network, designed to bring the classic arts to the widest possible audience.

There is no programme guide for CAS. The beauty of CAS is that you’ll never know what to expect. One moment you might be watching a rare film of George Gershwin performing one of his own compositions on the piano, and less than five minutes later you might see Beverly Sills in a great moment from a classic opera. Each weekly eight-hour show is downlinked by hundreds of channels across the country at different times, with different schedules. The element of surprise — not knowing exactly what’s coming up next — is part of what CAS is all about.

Director Various
Executive Producer Jamie Rigler
Duration 8 hour playlist 3 times a day
Co-Producer Peter Rosen
Recording location Worldwide
Genre All performing arts, film, architecture, archival
Distribution TV Rigler-Deutsch Foundation via Globecast Sattelite Service
Distribution VOD / SVOD www.classicartsshowcase.org
English title Classic Arts Showcase
Editor Jimmy Gamah