MPB and Mississippi School of the Arts Partner to Build Future Workforce
BROOKHAVEN, Miss. – Mississippi Public Broadcasting and the Mississippi School of the Arts 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.
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The Mississippi School of the Arts is a statewide residential school that will provide advanced programs of study in music, theatre, visual arts, dance, literary arts, and media arts for artistically gifted eleventh and twelfth grade students.
Mississippi Public Broadcasting provides educational and public affairs programming to Mississippians through its statewide television and radio network. MPB enhances the work of educators, students, parents and learners of all ages by providing informative programming and educational resources. MPB’s locally produced programming focuses on the people, resources and attractions that reflect Mississippi’s unique culture and diverse heritage. Children’s television programs constitute a major portion of the daytime and weekend morning schedules. MPB provides a valuable resource to Mississippians in disseminating information as part of the state’s emergency preparedness and response system. Since 1970, MPB has won over 400 national, regional and statewide awards, including Emmy®, Edward R. Murrow and Parents’ Choice® Awards. For more information on MPB, its programs, mission or educational resources, please visit www.mpbonline.org.
