Jonathan Burke, President of Laguna College of Art & Design brought us up to date on the amazing work this accredited four year college is doing. LCAD holds regional accreditation and national accreditation for its art programs, not all art department in colleges receive this level of accreditation.
The school follows classical tradition of art, with a vast range of representation of students of all economic strata. Each student must master great illustration, then be able to take an idea and make meaning of it.
The hottest curriculum at the school is a new major-Game Art/Entertainment Illustration and Art. It was a strategic move for the school, the majority of Game Art companies are located in Southern California. The students learn character design, background painting, storyboarding, environment design, animation. Gaming is story driven through animation. The faculty have worked at Disney, Warner Brothers and major studios in LA. Every second of animation takes 24 drawings. Graduate project is a 5-6 minute film. Students team with IT students at UC schools to be able to team to totally develop a game.
LCAD is located in Laguna canyon with vast housing, senior studios, teaching studios, main campus, administration, galleries, MFA Building. They are land banking for future growth of the students coming to the school.
The goal of teaching is each student has a comprehensive ability to design. For students, the most challenging is grants and paying for school. 44% of students receive Pell grants, which maybe reduced in the next round of state budget cuts. The school partners with corporations like Nike for internships and service clubs and others to provide grants.
We got to see our contributions in action, with Charlene-The Designing Machine, a graduating student who has received a scholarship from IRC, presented her variety of art projects including an App for volunteerism, package design for lighting, and a Game for kids in Haiti.
