Gail Evenari founded Maiden Voyage Productions (MVP) in 1994, as a California nonprofit 501(c)3 Corporation. Since its inception, MVP has raised approximately $1.75 million in grants from foundations, private donors and other nonprofits.
The MVP name was inspired by Evenari’s voyage on a Polynesian sailing canoe that resulted in her producing the acclaimed PBS documentary, Wayfinders: A Pacific Odyssey. The film was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the project Website was funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Pacific Islanders in Communications.
In 2000, with funding from private donors MVP created The Heroism Project, a website that explores the changing notion of heroism in America. The site includes a chronicle of 20th century heroes, created by students at UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, and downloadable interdisciplinary curriculum materials for use in Elementary, Middle and High School classrooms.
MVP World Wise Adventures, a project that inspires young people to become compassionate, informed and engaged citizens of the world through making films, doing service work and sharing interactions with diverse local and global communities. and completing Skeletons and Sea Turtles, the initial film of Just Like Me, But Different, a project that uses introduces children to global cultures and environments. Through an innovative integration of media, including films, books, educational toys, an interactive Website and interdisciplinary curriculum materials, Just Like Me, But Different will offer an unprecedented opportunity for children, parents and educators to discover the world.
The mission of Maiden Voyage Productions is to create educational media toward the purpose of enhancing social and cultural awareness, including films, books, Websites and curriculum materials. The products and programs are intended for distribution through online social netowrks, broadcast on public and cable television and dissemination to schools, libraries and the general public.