Santa Monica College to Open Media Technology Academy

Santa Monica College will open a satellite academy specializing in media technology in the heart of the city’s growing entertainment industry district, college officials announced Tuesday.

The Stewart Street site, now occupied by the Gemological Institute of America, was purchased last week for $8.5 million with money from the college’s capital improvement fund.

Classes will begin in fall 1997 with courses in computer animation, interactive computer game development, theme park design and services, and production management. A partnership of 17 studios and entertainment companies helped create the program and will play an active role in its development by offering speakers, internships and mentors, said college President Piedad F. Robertson.

“I really think this is a model for how education can work, not just for the entertainment industry, but for all fields,” she said.

Training in computer animation, CD-ROM graphics, sound design and other subjects will be available to about 100 Santa Monica College students who meet certain requirements. Graduates will receive an associate of arts degree after completing the academy, which has been dubbed “the Launchpad.”

Leaders in the industry heralded the college’s expansion, citing difficulty in finding workers familiar with technological developments.

“The number of schools across the nation that offer good education in digital technology can be counted on the fingers of one hand,” said Barry Armour, head of technical directors at the Bay Area-based Industrial Light and Magic.

Armour said he and others have to go out of the state, and sometimes out of the country, to fill their openings. The company’s computer graphics staff includes people from 30 countries. “I’d rather the international factor be a matter of choice, not necessity; of talent, rather than skill,” Armour said.

Entertainment leaders said they hope their collaboration with Santa Monica College will produce a local work pool that can segue into industry jobs.