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It’s become almost a cliche that Christian-made media is inferior to its secular counterparts, but a major exception to this rule is Spirit Juice Studios. The Chicago-based creative production firm has won numerous awards for its high quality visual media that celebrates the ever ancient, ever new beauty of Catholicism.
So it’s no surprise that the newest venture from Spirit Juice looks like it will set a new high standard in Catholic programming for children. Their goal is to produce the first season of a Catholic children’s faith formation show, Juice Box, aimed at kids ages 3 to 6.
Juice Box: The Catholic Kids Show will be hosted by two seasoned performers who are also devout Catholics trained in ministry and faithful to the teachings of the Catholic Church.
The show’s mission is “teaching the Catholic faith to children in an engaging, entertaining, and memorable way,” said Rob Kaczmark, President and CEO at Spirit Juice Studios
Kaczmark shared with Aleteia his plans and source of inspiration for the show.
“We use songs, stories, and other time-honored techniques to bring Church traditions to life for kids,” he said, “in a way that parents will also enjoy watching.”
His inspiration for creating the show was his own experience as a father. “When I became a father, I knew that I wanted to pass my Catholic faith on to my children,” he said.
“We take our two sons to Mass every week and pray with them every day, but I found myself wishing that there was something that could engage them in their faith and help them learn some of the basics.”
He found his “aha moment” in quality kids’ shows like Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, which help children learn life lessons. Juice Box will be “a mix between Blues Clues and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood,” he said.
The team at Spirit Juice is equipped to create quality kids’ programming that will fill a real need in the Church. “It could be a game-changer for parents and their children in terms of catechesis and evangelization,” Kaczmark said.
Spirit Juice has filmed the first episode already, and right now they’re raising funds to complete the season.
“Doing this the right way is not cheap,” Kaczmark said. “If you want to create a high-caliber TV show for kids, it takes an investment.”
Spirit Juice used its own resources to make the first episode, but their goals for the project don’t end there. Their goal is to fundraise enough to create the rest of the first season, and eventually future episodes and seasons.
“We are confident that once we have a season online, we can support future episodes and seasons by relying on YouTube ads,” he said. They are raising funds for the project through Kickstarter until December 1.
A well-made, engaging, educational kids’ show about faith sounds like just what Catholic parents need. We’re wishing Spirit Juice good luck and great success in getting it off the ground!
