Catherine Rafferty
she/her
Catherine Rafferty
Affiliations
Video Consortium; Public Media Women in LeadershipBio
Catherine Rafferty is a multimedia journalist and documentary filmmaker from upstate New York whose work explores complex themes with concern for social justice. She is Content & Engagement Producer for Education at WMHT Public Media, a PBS member station serving Eastern New York and Western New England. She produced the multi-platform documentary project Bridging the Divide, which earned a regional Emmy nomination. She graduated with a BFA in photojournalism from Rochester Institute of Technology.
Projects
Bridging The Divide
In the late 1970s, New York State Department of Transportation demolished nine blocks of a commercial property and hundreds of homes to build the Hoosick Street Bridge in Troy, N.Y. Today, the bridge is a monument to division. Through The Uniting Line project, local artist Jade Warrick will install murals throughout the bridge's surface area to transform and beautify the space.
Learn more about Bridging the Divide: https://wmht.org/bridgingthedivide/
This project received a 2023 NY Emmy nomination.
Runtime: 26 minutes
For WMHT
Role: Producer & Editor
Reflections on the Erie Canal
In 1825, the state of New York inaugurated a monumental economic engine - the Erie Canal. Born from an audacious ambition to secure financial power and seal New York’s status as the Empire State, the canal was a triumph of engineering and determination. Two-hundred years later, the human-made thread crossing the state of New York from West to East has a much broader legacy that deserves definition and exploration.
While many New Yorkers are familiar with the origin story of the Erie canal, there remain untold stories from the time of the canal’s birth. From the people who built the canal, to the indigenous communities disrupted by it - the canal revolutionized a nation still yearning to harness its potential and establish its identity. The canal unleashed a powerful movement - of people, ideas, materials, wealth and innovation.
Today, the singular historic purpose of the canal has been replaced by a broader significance. Together, the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca canals span 524 miles and serve communities in ways unimaginable to their creators. New York’s canals are a source of community, recreation, a habitat for wildlife and a resource to mitigate the impacts of a changing climate. The infrastructure of the canals also exists as a historic monument in need of maintenance and reinvestment.
In Reflections on the Erie Canal, we look back on the two-hundred-year journey of the Erie Canal and contemplate its future. The project features a 10-part series, bonus online content, a collection of educational resources on PBSLearningMedia and 1-hour documentary.
See more at: https://www.wmht.org/eriecanal/
View the full YouTube playlist of the serieshere.
For WMHT
Role: Producer & Editor
Echoes from Lock One
“Echoes From Lock One” is a participatory documentary that explores the legacy of the Erie Canal through Troy teens' research and stories.
Uniquely situated at the Canal’s confluence with the Northern tip of the Hudson River Estuary, this project—based at our headquarters in The Sanctuary for Independent Media, a stone’s throw from the Troy Federal Lock— merge tales of the past with present.
For The Sanctuary for Independent Media
Runtime: 26 minutes
Role: Post-production Coordinator
Official Selection in: Environmental Film Festival in the Nation's Capital (2021), Kansas City FilmFest International (2021), North Dakota Environmental Rights Film Festival (2021), Eugene Environmental Film Festival (2021), Social Justice Film Festival (2021)
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