The Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts will create opportunities for students to connect with professionals and leaders in the field while still in school in order to build on classroom learning and grow their professional networks. It will do so through hosting international conferences, symposiums and master classes, and through internship opportunities that facilitate connections with internal and external partners.
New Programs
Students in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film have clearly expressed their need for exposure to professional guest faculty and eminent artists who will connect them to the latest advances in the field. In addition, they want a vigorous internship program and real-world educational experiences while still in school. Providing these opportunities will be a major focus of the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. Some current and proposed programs are outlined below.
Creating Connections Across Disciplines
Interdisciplinarity is woven throughout the curriculum and programs of the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts, but two programs focus specifically on developing connections across the disciplines.
External
Carson Emerging Arts Conference
Every two or three years, the Carson Center will host the Carson Emerging Media Arts Conference, an international conference for exchanging ideas, showcasing technology developments and conducting workshops on emerging media arts that will enhance the visibility and reputation of the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts and connect it and its faculty and students with potential sponsors, partners and employers. All students majoring in film and emerging media will be required to attend.
Master Classes
Master Classes will give students the opportunity to learn from established and experienced professionals through intensive one-to-three-day teaching interactions.
Internships
Internships represent an opportunity to learn about the world of work, build on classroom learning and grow professional networks. The Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts will have an internship coordinator and student adviser dedicated to developing paid and unpaid, for-credit student internships with private sector companies and public organizations working in film and emerging media. A portion of the Carson Emerging Media Arts Endowment will be dedicated to supporting student internship activities out of town. Though internships are highly encouraged and supported, there is no guarantee that each student will find one. Therefore, internships will not be a requirement for graduation.
Internal
Emerging Media Arts Symposium
An interdisciplinary environment doesn’t just happen, it requires focused efforts to bring together diverse faculty and to build relationships with external partners. Each year a campus-wide symposium modeled on TED events will be held to coalesce faculty from various disciplines and potential external partners around new opportunities for creativity and research in film and emerging media. The symposium is sponsored yearly with funds from the Chancellor’s Challenge Grant Program.
Chancellor’s Challenge Grant Program
Each year at the symposium, the chancellor will announce his Challenge Grant Program to support the Faculty Fellows program and interdisciplinary research and creative projects in emerging media arts. The program will give priority to proposals that include private sector partners. The program has two goals: to seed research and creative projects that cut across disciplines and enable teams to further develop projects for submission to federal funding agencies and foundations; and to encourage partnerships with the private sector.
Partnerships & Collaborators
Students in the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film have clearly expressed their need for exposure to professional guest faculty and eminent artists who will connect them to the latest advances in the field. In addition, they want a vigorous internship program and real-world educational experiences while still in school. Providing these opportunities will be a major focus of the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts. Some current and proposed programs are outlined below.
University Partners
Key partners within the university that may be involved with the Johnny Carson School of Theatre and Film and the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts in developing and implementing courses, programs and research include:
- Hixson-Lied College of Fine & Performing Arts: The Department of Art and Art History, the Glenn Korff School of Music and the Mary Riepma Ross Theatre
- Film Studies/Department of English: classes in film studies
- Center for Entrepreneurship/College of Business Administration: entrepreneurship classes
- Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management: Design Thinking course
- Holland Computing Center/Department of Computer Science and Engineering: creative coding classes, collaborative research
Other departments and units interested in collaborating with the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts on learning and research projects include: Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, School of Natural Resources, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
External Partnerships
Other departments and units interested in collaborating with the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts on learning and research projects include: Nebraska Educational Telecommunications, College of Journalism and Mass Communications, School of Natural Resources, the Department of Physics and Astronomy and the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering.
Proximity to Movie Industry
Since the university is not situated in the center of the entertainment industry, the Carson Center for Emerging Media Arts must creatively integrate online educational experiences, including short courses (one or two full-day master classes, or even two-week modules) and courses in virtual production offered by faculty and professionals at other institutions and professionals working in the industry. These learning opportunities will help break down the actual and perceived geographic challenge to running the program in Nebraska.