OFTEN LOST IN THE SHUF- fle of the movement to improve arts and new media education for youngsters is the need to better equip teachers. An earlier installment of this column called "Teaching The Teachers" stressed the importance of producing educators who are prepared for the daunting task at hand of helping to prepare students for careers in the new millennium workforce. A key employment sector in 2000 and beyond will undoubtedly be the entertainment industry; the demand for artistic, creative, technically proficient, digital-savvy talent figures to reach an all-time high.
But where will the teachers come from? And what about those educators already in place who are overworked and operating with limited technical resources? Again, it’s vital that the industry step up to the plate, be it in the form of professionals willing to teach part-time—or companies that see the value of donating equipment and training so that teachers can learn about state-of-the-art technology and impart that knowledge to their pupils.
A prime example of the latter has just surfaced in Southern California. Video Symphony of Burbank is in the business of providing high-end training to professionals in the film and video industries. The company has decided to donate more than $30,000 in digital media training for high school and community college teachers in the Los Angeles area.
Teachers will have a range of courses to choose from, encompassing such disciplines as nonlinear video editing, 3-D computer animation, audio production, Web design and Web casting. Most classes entail four or five sessions and will involve hands-on training. A select group of teachers will participate in these classes at Video Symphony’s facility.
Video Symphony will link with these educators via Workforce LA, a Southern California nonprofit organization that supports students through teacher professional development. The Entertainment Industry Development Corporation (EIDC), a public/private sector partnership that oversees the joint Los Angeles City/County Film Office and promotes economic development, brought Video Symphony and Workforce LA together and brokered the agreement between the two parties.
EIDC senior VP Kathleen Milnes observed that "the industry supporting teachers is a natural choice. We need a highly qualified local workforce, and upgrading the skills of teaching professionals helps ensure that." With Video Symphony in the fold, Milnes hopes to encourage other firms, along with industry execs and artisans, to contribute as well.
Deborah Brooks, president of Workforce LA, described the Video Symphony arrangement as "a great opportunity. We hope it will help these teachers in designing their own classroom curriculum … that they’ll come away from this with a better idea of the support technology can provide."
Video Symphony’s clients include: Warner Bros., Burbank; Universal Pictures, Universal City; Sony Pictures Imageworks, Culver City; the Walt Disney Company, Burbank; and Rhythm & Hues Studios, Los Angeles. Video Symphony also offers fully sponsored training for eligible California companies in the digital media industries through a contract with the State of California Employment Training Panel.
"We are excited and honored to be among the first professional entertainment training facilities to support the education of teachers," said Video Symphony president Mike Flanagan in reference to its relationship with Workforce LA. "We know that we can both ‘bless and be blessed’ by this forward-thinking program."
