Future (.)
After three amazing years, I’ve stepped down as the Executive Director of the NYC MediaLab. It’s been a great run, and I’ve learned so much from the students, faculty, and industry partners that formed the backbone of this remarkable organization.
The MediaLab put more than 10 million dollars into the New York City innovation ecosystem in just the past five years. Our members asked us to explore big questions, build innovative experiments, and solve hard problems. That knowledge will live on. As a convener, during more than two years of COVID, we built virtual worlds and remained focused, even as fake news and misinformation flooded our networks.
My colleagues and friends on our Membership Advisory Board were champions for change, supporting the doubling of our staff, a shift to grow membership, and what would have been an extraordinary first-ever MediaLab Gala. This is an important time for media, as its impact on civil society and community threatens the well-being of our families and democracy. The MediaLab’s decision to re-think the consortium structure is certainly their decision to make, but it wouldn’t have been my choice, and so — we part company.
Shortly I’ll have a new role I can share, and an expanded mission to explore the urgency of sustainable media.
Here is my new email address as of 6/8/22: Steve@Magnify.nyc if you’ll like to get an advance peek under the hood.
Until then, know that the strength of the MediaLab under Justin Hendrix before me — can be credited in no small part to the vision of Michael Bloomberg, and the resilience of a consortium model that made remarkable partnerships possible.
For the hundreds of lab alumni, please continue your groundbreaking work. I’m here to help and support you in any way I can.
To my MediaLab friends and Members, I’m so proud of the work we’ve done together. Verizon, ASCAP, The New York Times, Bertelsmann, Consumer Reports, The Knight Foundation, The Associated Press, Chanel, Havas, Hearst, Bloomberg, and more. Each were extraordinary partners. To the over one hundred amazing speakers and panelists who gave their time and intellectual prowess to MediaLab events — a huge thank you. Open AI’s CTO Greg Brockman, Andrew Yang and his vision for Tech in NYC, Connie Kennedy from Epic — just to name a few. I will be forever grateful.
To my partners and Board Members at NYC Economic Development, the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment, Columbia University, and IDM at Tandon, I appreciate the hard work you’ve put in, and the positive impact we’ve together had on the corporate and media community. And to the new members of the Verizon Museum Initiative, I’m so excited about the coming together of the digital teams and the ten remarkable museums who have joined together this journey.
The MediaLab team deserves huge credit here. Their drive and determination made the MediaLab programs deliver breakthrough results, and I’m confident they’ll continue to do good work wherever the road leads them.
As I look ahead, the future of media becomes more critical. To consider what a sustainable future for media will entail, we need to look at not just what media was, but what we imagine it will be in the not too distant future. If you are interested in having a conversation about that, don’t hesitate to reach out.
Best,
Steve
Steve Rosenbaum
Executive Director
Magnify.NYC
