Sesame Workshop

Hello! We are Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization you might know as the creators of the television show Sesame Street. For more than fifty years, our goal has been to help children grow smarter, stronger, and kinder. Our story began with a simple but powerful question: could television, a technology that was in almost every home, be used as a tool to help children learn?

Back in 1968, our founders, Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett, decided to find out. They established our organization, which was first called the Children's Television Workshop. Our original mission was to use the power of television to help prepare young children for school. We wanted to reach all children, but we had a special focus on helping those from low-income families who might not have access to the same learning resources as others. We believed that a television show could help bridge that gap and give every child a better start in their education.

To achieve this goal, we created Sesame Street, which first appeared on television in 1969. It was a new kind of show that mixed learning with fun in a way no one had seen before. We combined our educational lessons about letters, numbers, and the world around us with catchy music and colorful animation. One of the most important parts of the show was our partnership with the talented creator Jim Henson. He brought his amazing characters, the Muppets, to our street. Characters like Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Elmo helped us teach lessons about everything from counting to friendship in a way that was engaging and easy for young children to understand.

Our work didn't stop at the end of one street. As more people saw what we were doing, our ideas began to travel around the world. We started creating international co-productions, which are special versions of our show made for children in other countries. For example, we helped create Plaza Sésamo for audiences in Latin America. These shows are not just translated; they are created with local artists and educators to reflect the languages and cultures of the children watching them. This way, the lessons feel familiar and welcoming to everyone.

As our work grew beyond a single television show, we decided to change our name. In the year 2000, the Children's Television Workshop became Sesame Workshop. This new name showed that our work had expanded to include many different kinds of projects that all shared the same educational mission. Our mission has also grown over time. Today, we focus on more than just letters and numbers. We put a strong emphasis on social-emotional learning, which means helping children understand their feelings, share, and get along with others.

We also use our characters and stories to create special content for children who are facing very difficult challenges. Our teams work to bring comfort, education, and hope to children who have been affected by displacement and conflict around the world. From our start as a single workshop with a big idea, we continue to use media to help children everywhere learn, dream, and connect with the world and each other.