A school as advanced as the digital arts and entertainment technologies being taught will open Sept. 17 in the historical Burnham building in the heart of Chicago’s Loop.
Flashpoint, the Academy of Media Arts & Sciences will offer aggressive 40 hour, two-year programs focused on preparing students for jobs in the trillion-dollar digital entertainment industry.
Mayor Daley has been invited to walk across the street to from City Hall and cut the ribbon to the revolutionary new school, said Howard A. Tullman, a legendary figure in high-tech ventures who led the school’s $15 million funding.
What makes the school breakthrough is its intense focus on only four inter-related disciplines in the ever-evolving, trillion dollar digital entertainment industry?Game Development, Computer Animation, Recording Arts and Film Production?in stark contrast with some visual arts schools that offer more than 100 courses.
Flashpoint is structured for “individuals with a passion for anything digital and a desire for creative expression,” Tullman said, himself a super successful creative pioneer in games, music and digital entertainment.
Tullman is President/CEO and Ric Landry, an early stage business investor who brought the school concept to Tullman via a mutual connection, is board chairman and will be actively involved in recruiting students for the school.
Academic Dean Paula Froehle joined Flashpoint last month. A former tenured Columbia College film professor, who also had taught Filmmaking at the Art Institute, is an acclaimed filmmaker.
More than seven million dollar is being spent to shape a sleek, contemporary working facility from the ground-up. Completion is expected by Sept. 15.
“We’ve engineered our departments to simulate the industries our students will ultimately work in, not as a traditional school,” said Tullman, as he displayed a staggering amount of space under construction?70,000 sq. ft. over two and a half floors.
Designed by the architectural firm of Valario Dewalt Train Associates, the facility will boast the most advanced state-of-the-art technology throughout?in classrooms, computer labs, recording facilities, Avid edit suites, mixing rooms, multiple sound stages, a theatre-like screening room, a motion capture studio, an information commons and student lounges.
Flashpoint has a long-term lease on what ultimately will be a six floor campus. Sound stages will be developed on three additional floors and Flashpoint will utilize the stages at Resolution Digital Studios until they are completed.
The object of such an imposing physical plant is to expose students to real-time professional working environments, Tullman said.
