The City of Niles has been selected by WNIT Public Television, the area’s PBS affiliate, as the next location for its successful “Our Town” series.

“Our Town” is a one-hour video documentary featuring the people, places and happenings of Niles as experienced by those who live or work in Niles.

“As a public television station that serves a very large geographic area (22 counties in Indiana and Michigan), the Our Town project creates another opportunity for interaction between WNIT and area communities. Niles is a perfect community in our service area to be featured,” said WNIT’s Brenda Bowyer.

Niles’ Community Development Director Sanya Phillips said city officials are excited about the opportunity.

“Niles is on the brink of something amazing. … We have a real opportunity to illustrate how remarkable our community is and to offer a snapshot of where Niles is headed,” she said.

WNIT is seeking area residents with personal video cameras to be volunteer videographers for the project.

“There are no restrictions as to the adult age or experience of the volunteer and no cost to participate… just a willingness to be part of the project,” Bowyer said.

Volunteers will need to attend one of two pre-production organizational meetings hosted by WNIT professionals. These sessions will take place from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at the Niles District Library on April 20 and 21. Volunteers are asked to attend at least one session.

At the pre-production sessions, volunteers will have an opportunity to hear an overview of the program’s mission, receive advice on videography and work with WNIT staff to brainstorm a list of subjects to videotape.

From the list, each volunteer will receive one shooting assignment and is free to tape anything of interest related to that subject.

“This community approach prevents several volunteers from covering the same locale or subject matter,” Bowyer said.

Volunteers will be interviewed by WNIT at a later date, thereby providing the narration to their videos and will be invited to the program’s broadcast premiere.

The taping dates are April 23 to May 10. The program will broadcast on June 6, 2016. A special preview date for volunteers and their guests will be announced prior to the original broadcast date.

Those who would like to volunteer should contact Bowyer at (574) 675-9648 ext. 316 or email: bbowyer@wnit.org.