The Art Institute of Tampa, a branch of Miami International University of Art & Design, has received approval from The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts in graphic design, media arts & animation, multimedia & Web design, interior design or game art & design, as well as the Associate of Arts in graphic design or multimedia & Web design. The new institution will hold classes for the first time in January 2004. The school will be located at 4401 North Himes Avenue in Tampa, Florida.

Tri-Dimensional Studios of Tampa, Florida has launched The Maya Training Center, a state-of-the-art computer animation training facility specializing in intensive training for Alias' Maya. Designed to meet the needs of professionals and enthusiasts alike, The Maya Training Center provides Maya 3D animation training via its Tampa-based state-of-the-art classrooms and remotely through onsite training at their client's location.

The Gnomon Workshop has released a new installment in its Dynamics training for Alias’ Maya DVD series. “Dynamics, 14: Advanced Sprite Rendering” includes 120 minutes of instruction, project files, lecture notes, resource spotlights and bonus materials. The DVD was produced by Andrew Orloff, principal and VFX supervisor at Zoic Studios. The DVD explains the tools, with a focus on workflow, using a wide range of examples including wind-blown seed pods, a sea of microbes, depth-of-field effects, tossed coins and crowd simulations.

Milan International Film Festival (MIFF) has announced that it is providing two students the opportunity to study at Los Angeles Film School (LAFS). Since 2001, MIFF and LAFS have collaborated to award deserving students the tuition necessary to attend the course of their choice. This year, in addition to the one full-year scholarship given in previous years, another scholarship for the six-week digital imaging courses will be offered. The scholarship is open to all high school graduates. The deadline to apply is November 15, 2003. Scholarship winners will be notified by December 15, 2003.

Most people want to go home from work and school and enjoy THE SIMPSONS on television, but some diehard fans and media students have taken it up as a course of study at South Carolina State University, which offers the course, “Postmodernism, Parody, Pastiche: Deconstructing THE SIMPSONS.” According to a report in THE NEW HAVEN REGISTER, 25 SCSU students are enrolled in the college class taught by professor Carlene Dellinger-Pate, who finds deep meaning in cartoons, and plans to explore the question, “What keeps us laughing at this text for so long?”

Video Symphony, a Hollywood TV, film and DVD education center, has received approval to issue between one and 20 visas to enable international students to travel to California to enroll in classes. Located in Burbank, California, Video Symphony is an authorized training center for Avid, Apple, DigiDesign, Sonic Solutions, Adobe, Alias, Boris and Newtek. The center provides professional-level instruction in post-production for feature films, TV, video and DVD.

Softimage's SOFTIMAGE|XSI software is being introduced to two Master of Fine Arts programs at USC's School of Cinema-Television: Interactive Media and Animation and Digital Arts. According to the university, this is to help meet industry demands for professionally educated animators and digital media creators.

The Animation Club at The Art Institute of California --San Francisco (www.aicasf.aii.edu) has made its mark on the computer graphics and animation world by forming California's first student chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH, the world's largest organization of computer graphics professionals.

U.S. high school seniors wanting to pursue a career in the arts can apply to Arts Recognition and Talent Search (ARTS) for the chance to share $900,000. Applicants will also be eligible for $3 million in scholarships by arts colleges across the U.S, which range from $100 to $25,000. The final application deadline is October 1, 2003 with the submission/audition materials deadline being November 1, 2003. Applications may be obtained through high school art teachers, by visiting www.ARTSawards.org or calling 1-800-970-ARTS.

Contrary to the high profile jobs at Pixar, Industrial Light & Magic, PDI/DreamWorks and other prestigious studios, the real growth area for Bay Area animation jobs is coming from other industries looking for people trained in computer graphics, 3D environments, simulation and other animation-related skills.