Mississippi Public Broadcasting (MPB) and the Mississippi School of the Arts (MSA) are partnering to provide educational opportunities to students in a new media arts program.The new initiative shares agency resources and includes internships, hands-on experiences in the MPB studio and on location, as well as broadcasting industry instruction. Training the students of MSA in film and broadcasting helps create a workforce for MPB and other broadcasting companies throughout Mississippi.
“This partnership will allow students to participate in the documentary and non-fictional aspects of broadcasting. I am so excited these two agencies are joining forces that perhaps will share resources in an extraordinarily tight budgetary time,” said Suzanne Hirsch, MSA executive director.
MPB’s Education Department provides programs, services and support to educators, students and parents in Mississippi that are vital to the educational mission set forth by the legislature.
“We are committed to supporting students in being successful in school, work and life,” said Maggie Stevenson, deputy executive director for education at MPB. “This partnership with MSA is a natural fit to aid in student career discovery and development. Connecting education to television and radio programming provides a unique, hands-on opportunity for students to be engaged with real-world experiences, and it meets a critical workforce development need for the state.”
MPB assisted with the initial planning for the new program in 2015 by identifying necessary equipment and content for the curriculum courses. In the summer of 2016, MSA hired a new teacher, John Kelly Shelburne, to launch the first ever media arts program at the school.