Lansing Community College (LCC) is launching a two-year Digital Media, Audio and Cinema Program designed to prepare students for jobs in media, movie and television production, an industry that’s expected to see substantial growth in Mid-Michigan.
“The curriculum is primarily designed to meet the needs for the way we use media these days, which is much different than in previous days,” says John Lightner, with LCC.
Though the program comes on the heels of the new statewide movie tax incentives and the announcement of the construction of a new film studio in Lansing, Lightner says the school has been trying to update its media program for years.
“What we’re trying to do is position our students to enter the industry as it exists out there,” he says. Several businesses, including Ahptic Film and Digital and the Gillespie Group, want to build a $9 million studio in Downtown Lansing.
If LCC’s program is a success, students will be prepared to take on some Lansing-based Hollywood jobs, Lightner says. LCC would like to partner with the new studio to create internship opportunities for students.
“We want to get students into the environment where they’re using equipment that we might not be able to afford, but we also want them in an environment were they’re making a major picture of some sort,” Lightner says.
LCC is investing more than $400,000 in the new program for equipment, lab and software upgrades.
“It’s going to be a fairly substantial investment,” Lightner says.
According to Lightner, several LCC students who have gone on to work in Los Angeles and New York say the new studio may encourage them to move back to Michigan.
Source: John Lightner, LCC
Ivy Hughes, development news editor, can be reached here.
All Photographs © Dave Trumpie
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.