Colleges Pin Hopes on DreamWorks for Entertainment Training Centers

It’s not easy to live up to a name like DreamWorks.

L.A.’s most closely watched studio tends to inspire big dreams, such as one now being floated by urban activists to start a DreamWorks-sponsored “entertainment studies” program at L.A. community college campuses.

Activists and Los Angeles Community College District officials are hoping DreamWorks SKG and Playa Capital Co., its partner in a giant studio project in Playa Vista, will help set up a network of entertainment training centers at all nine community college campuses. The purpose is to usher a new generation of Angelenos into lucrative entertainment industry jobs.

For now, DreamWorks officials have been meeting with representatives from the Los Angeles Community College District, politicians, community groups and unions to discuss possible support of college programs, although they remain wary of making commitments. A Playa Capital spokesman said the company is aware of the proposal but does not expect to be involved.

Such high expectations for DreamWorks spring from the sense among some proponents that the company owes a special debt to public interests.

The perception dates to 1995, when the Los Angeles City Council gave preliminary approval to $70 million in incentives--mostly in the form of fee waivers and tax breaks--to DreamWorks and its developers in exchange for locating their 47-acre project in the city.

Now, with a final City Council vote on the package expected in coming weeks, the incentives are being invoked to justify expectations that DreamWorks and Playa Capital will contribute to community projects such as the college proposal.

DreamWorks is “getting a big subsidy from the city,” said Sharon Delugach, chief of staff for Councilwoman Jackie Goldberg. “In return for those dollars, something should be given back.”

The program would be “a way of developing a return on that investment for the whole region,” said Anthony Thigpenn, chairman of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Alliance, a countywide alliance of community groups and labor unions.

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This kind of talk poses a dilemma for Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who first posed the idea of a DreamWorks-backed training program called Job Link.

Galanter continues to lead ongoing talks with DreamWorks, but she emphasized that the company should be viewed as a voluntary partner, not a compulsory contributor.

One reason, she said, is that the incentive package doesn’t qualify as a subsidy because most of its provisions have become standard in Los Angeles and other major developers have benefited.

“People somehow think DreamWorks should be the source of funding for everything,” she said. “I’m more than willing to ask them to do their share, but there are other sources of funding.”

DreamWorks has already shown willingness to participate voluntarily in educational programs. The company has helped establish a network of nine “media academies” at Los Angeles Unified high school campuses, contributing some money, but mostly its employees’ time as volunteers.

The company might fill a similar role in the community college program, said Kelly Candaele, a college trustee.

Candaele declined to give details of what has been discussed. But Thigpenn, who has participated in the talks, said the discussions have dealt with a two-year college certificate program supported by DreamWorks and Playa Capital, to be based in nine centers on college campuses. The emphasis would be on production and business jobs related to entertainment, he said.

The college district already has some entertainment-related programs. But Candaele hopes that DreamWorks’ support would be used to leverage funds from other corporations and federal programs. L.A. community colleges “are trying to develop a more aggressive culture when it comes to reaching out to business,” he said.