News Article

Look out Hollywood!


3/30/2007 3:04:33 PM


The seven core components of MAC are: Journalism, Visual Arts, Recording Arts, Music Industry and Performance, Multimedia, Digital Animation and the newest addition – Film and Video.

There’s excitement stirring in Stephenville.

College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) Bay St. George campus has created the Media Arts Centre (MAC), a virtual campus that represents the unique mass of arts programming offered there.

Jim Grace, coordinating instructor for the Digital Animation program at the campus, is spearheading the project. It came about, he says, as the arts programming expanded and students naturally began to collaborate.

“Many of these programs have existed at Bay St. George campus for a number of years, but have been augmented recently with the addition of programs. As programs began to naturally cross over, we came to realize what we have here – a comprehensive, holistic approach to training for the entertainment industry,” says Grace.

The seven core components of MAC are: Journalism, Visual Arts, Recording Arts, Music Industry and Performance, Multimedia, Digital Animation and the newest addition – Film and Video. They are all represented on the virtual campus’ interactive website: http://mac.cna.nl.ca

The site – a very savvy, hip interactive project – gives potential students comprehensive descriptions and distinct visual images of the key facets of the arts found at the campus. MAC is “a centre of artistic excellence where one can draw on the wisdom and knowledge of industry experts in order to thrive in the cultural and media arts,” reads the overview.

“We are very excited and proud of the work created by our internal team of experts,” says Brenda Tobin, Dean of Academics and Applied Arts.

“This website will house a vast amount of information relative to the media arts and the specific offerings we have at the Bay St. George campus. We are encouraging anyone who has an interest in artistic expression to drop by the site and see what quality programming we have to suit their interests.”

Grace feels the site will be an integral part of making a connection with prospective students and providing them with the skills necessary to move forward.

“People who have talent in any one of MAC’s seven core areas will be able to interact with and integrate all key facets of these industries,” says Grace.

“They can then go into those industries and work with their specialties while having real knowledge of all the other arts, technology and communications necessary to bring a project to fruition.”

One of the advantages is the impressive teacher-to-student ratio. Unlike some larger schools with large class numbers, CNA instructors have the capability to work one-on-one with their students to provide them with in depth, truly professional experience – touching on other professional disciplines – to ready them for the real world.

“This is a unique opportunity for fantastic interdisciplinary collaboration that nurtures a highly developed understanding of visual graphics, musical scores, Foley sound, studio and live engineering, promotions and event planning, digital compositing, business development, and so much more.

“We basically have ourselves a mini Hollywood!” Grace exclaims.

The official launch takes place today, during the Skills Canada Competition in St. John’s.

“It’s the perfect opportunity to access the population that is interested in this kind of future and that may be unaware this facility exists on the island,” says Grace. “The excitement of this virtual campus will continue as we create further linkages between these programs.”

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