Macaulay Initiates New Media Lab Project
March 13, 2013 – Macaulay Honors College has launched the New Media Lab project, an ambitious four-phase initiative supported by Anthony E. Meyer, Macaulay Foundation Director, and Chairman of Meyer and Co. LLC along with his wife, Miraldina. Seed funding from The Anthony E. Meyer Family Foundation gift brings in Academy Award-winning producer Albie Hecht to lead and develop the Macaulay New Media Lab. It is envisioned as the first and only public, undergraduate “laboratory” for the study and production of media content across all new media channels, including mobile, web sites and applications.
As Mr. Meyer noted, “I’m proud of the ambitions and accomplishments of our students, many of whom are the first in their families to attend college. Macaulay’s New Media Lab will help ensure that our students graduate, not only with an outstanding education, but also with the practical hands-on job training they need to succeed in the 21st century economy.”
Twelve Macaulay Honors College students – selected during a rigorous application process – are now participating in the initial and highly coveted New Media Lab workshop. These creative, interdisciplinary non-credit sessions are led by Mr. Hecht, who is CEO of entertainment studio Worldwide Biggies, founder of Spike TV and former President of Nickelodeon Entertainment. “This is an opportunity for Macaulay Honors College, as a public institution, to become a leader in the field of media and technology,” observed Hecht. “The New Media Lab will be training the content creators of tomorrow.”
The New Media Lab project has been conceived as a long-term program to unfold in four phases. Its goal is to study, experiment with and produce transmedia content by understanding the modes of user engagement in which digital audiences watch, learn, play, connect, collect and create.
Students will: obtain job skills; create a portfolio of projects; and learn how to develop and produce transmedia content to tell a story across multiple platforms and formats. After Phase I, the current workshop, the project will work towards developing the New Media Lab course for credit. Its evolution into a major and its expansion into a Macaulay Center for New Media Studies is in the planning stage.
About Macaulay Honors College
Macaulay Honors College at The City University of New York offers exceptional students a uniquely personalized education with access to the vast resources of the nation’s largest urban university and New York City itself. Selected for their top high school records and leadership potential, Macaulay students receive a full-tuition scholarship, a laptop and technology support, and a $7,500 Opportunities Fund to pursue global learning and service opportunities. A Cultural Passport provides access to museums, libraries, and other treasures around New York City. Macaulay students enroll in one of eight CUNY senior colleges (Baruch, Brooklyn, City, Hunter, John Jay, Lehman, Queens and Staten Island). For more information, see macaulay.cuny.edu.