The Jamie Tarses Fund Established by Young Storytellers to Honor Late TV Pioneer

Los Angeles nonprofit Young Storytellers has officially announced the creation of The Jamie Tarses Fund, a dedicated financial initiative designed to sustain and expand its creative mentorship programs across Los Angeles public schools. Named in enduring memory of the trailblazing television executive and producer Jamie Tarses, who passed away in 2021, the fund celebrates a legacy defined by creative leadership, fierce advocacy for writers, and a deep-seated commitment to community service. Tarses was not only a foundational figure in modern television history—notably serving as the first woman to lead a network entertainment division—but also a pillar of Young Storytellers, having helped shape the organization during its formative years as a founding board member.

The official launch of the fund will be commemorated on October 29 during The Biggest Show, the nonprofit’s marquee annual fundraising and celebration event hosted at the historic Wilshire Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles. By channeling philanthropic support into the organization’s core operations, The Jamie Tarses Fund aims to ensure that future generations of public school students receive the individualized creative mentorship that has become the hallmark of the Young Storytellers curriculum.

A Legacy of Creative Leadership and Television History

To understand the profound impact of The Jamie Tarses Fund, one must examine the extraordinary professional footprint left by its namesake. Jamie Tarses carved out a legendary career in the television industry, shattering glass ceilings and shepherding some of the most iconic, critically acclaimed, and commercially successful sitcoms and dramas of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

Tarses began her trajectory in the entertainment business as a talent executive at the legendary sketch comedy institution Saturday Night Live. She subsequently transitioned into casting at Lorimar before securing a transformative role at NBC in 1987. Working within the network during its high-water mark commonly referred to as the Must See TV era, Tarses played a pivotal developmental role in shaping television history. Her creative oversight helped nurture and launch landmark cultural phenomena such as Friends, Mad About You, Frasier, and NewsRadio.

In 1996, Tarses achieved a historic milestone when she was appointed president of ABC Entertainment, making her the first woman in television history to lead a major broadcast network’s entertainment division. During her tenure at ABC, she greenlit and championed a diverse slate of influential programming that included The Practice, Spin City, Sports Night, and Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place.

Following her executive tenure, Tarses transitioned into a prolific career as an independent producer. Her independent slate further demonstrated her versatile taste and commitment to smart, character-driven storytelling, encompassing television projects such as My Boys, Mad Love, Happy Endings, Franklin & Bash, The Wilds, and The Mysterious Benedict Society.

Deep Roots with Young Storytellers

While Tarses’s professional accolades established her as a titan of the television industry, her philanthropic dedication to Young Storytellers revealed a deeply personal commitment to nurturing untapped creative voices. Tarses first became involved with the organization during the late 1990s, lending her time, expertise, and formidable professional network to its fledgling arts education initiatives.

In 2003, the year Young Storytellers officially incorporated as an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Tarses joined its founding board of directors. She maintained an active leadership role on the board for seven years, applying her industry acumen to elevate the profile of the grassroots charity. Recognizing the immense value of professional writing talent in shaping young imaginations, Tarses famously leveraged her industry clout. She routinely recruited entire writers’ rooms from her various comedy productions, alongside some of the most recognizable acting talent in Hollywood, to volunteer as one-on-one mentors for public school students.

Her brother, acclaimed television writer and producer Matt Tarses—co-creator of HBO’s Rooster, executive producer of Bad Monkey, and a veteran of shows like Scrubs and Sports Night—reflected on his sister’s unique passion for mentorship.

"Jamie was never happier than when she was helping writers tell their stories," Matt Tarses stated. "She had a gift for it, and everyone who worked with her benefited tremendously from her guidance. In return, she bullied us into doing the same thing for the kids at Young Storytellers. Of course, it became one of the most joyful and rewarding things I’ve done, as she surely knew it would be. When we were trying to come up with ways to honor her memory, Young Storytellers was the obvious choice."

Chronology of Young Storytellers: From Classroom Experiment to Systemic Impact

The evolution of Young Storytellers mirrors the grassroots tenacity that Jamie Tarses championed throughout her career. The organization’s history demonstrates a steady expansion of its mission to build self-expression, confidence, and literacy skills among underserved youth.

• 1997: Young Storytellers is established as an informal volunteer project by three forward-thinking film students. The pilot program launches in a single classroom at Playa del Rey Elementary School, utilizing creative writing as a tool to engage students.
• 2003: The initiative officially incorporates as an independent nonprofit organization. Jamie Tarses joins its inaugural board of directors, helping to steer the organization through its critical foundational years and establishing deep ties within the Hollywood creative community.
• Present Era (2025 Data): The organization has scaled dramatically. Operating across 39 public schools and after-school sites throughout the greater Los Angeles area, Young Storytellers deploys an expansive network of 786 active volunteers who provide weekly one-on-one mentorship to more than 440 students.

The core methodology of the nonprofit remains remarkably consistent with its origins. Volunteer mentors meet one-on-one with students to guide them through the process of writing an original script. Once the stories are completed, professional actors visit the schools to perform the student-written scripts live on stage, validating the children’s creative output through professional theatrical presentation.

Perspectives from Leadership and the Broader Impact

Jaylene Benggon Chung, Managing Director of Young Storytellers, emphasized the philosophical alignment between Tarses’s life work and the core mission of the nonprofit sector.

"Jamie understood that the most powerful thing you can tell a young person is that their ideas deserve to be taken seriously," Benggon Chung remarked. "She built that belief into this organization, and it is still at the center of everything we do. Because of this fund, the kids who come through our doors will keep feeling her generosity, whether or not they ever learn her name."

The establishment of The Jamie Tarses Fund arrives at a critical juncture for arts education within public school systems. Across the United States, school districts frequently face budgetary constraints that squeeze visual and performing arts programs, creative writing workshops, and extracurricular enrichment out of the core curriculum. Grassroots arts organizations like Young Storytellers play an increasingly vital role in filling these systemic gaps, providing equitable access to creative development that fosters critical thinking, emotional intelligence, and literacy.

By anchoring its financial future to the memory of a visionary television leader, Young Storytellers has secured a sustainable mechanism to fund its core operations. The fund will directly underwrite mentor recruitment, classroom materials, school partnerships, and the theatrical showcases that bring student writing to life. Furthermore, the initiative serves as a bridge between the entertainment industry and the public education system, reminding the creative community of its capacity to invest directly in the next generation of storytellers.

As the entertainment industry and the Los Angeles community gather on October 29 at the Wilshire Ebell Theatre for The Biggest Show, the spotlight will shine not only on the achievements of current students and volunteers but also on the enduring spirit of a woman who dedicated her life to the craft of narrative. Through The Jamie Tarses Fund, Jamie Tarses’s legacy of championing voices—from network television writers to elementary school students taking their first steps into creative writing—will continue to resonate across classrooms for decades to come.

Contributions and donations to support The Jamie Tarses Fund can be submitted directly through the official Young Storytellers website.