A $500,000 gift commitment from the Samuel P. Black Family Fund of the Erie Community Foundation will support film studies at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, by providing access to high-end cameras, lighting kits and editing software, among other equipment.
The gift advances efforts at Penn State Behrend to create a curriculum and secure capabilities in digital media, arts and technology. Students and faculty members will have access to professional-caliber equipment, including Epic-M Red Dragon Pro cameras, lenses, tripods and stage legs; six-channel sound mixers; shotgun and wireless mics; a 1,200-watt Fresnal lighting system; and Mac Pro, Adobe and DaVinci Resolve editing and rendering software.
“This gift is path-breaking for Penn State Behrend,” said Sharon Dale, associate professor of art history and chair of the arts program at the campus. “For the first time, state-of-the-art equipment, comparable to that used in major film productions, will be available locally. In addition to providing new opportunities for our students, we hope to use this gift to develop a means of making the equipment available to area filmmakers, jump-starting a creative industry in Erie.”
The campus plans to develop courses in every stage of film production. This will support efforts to create a new interdisciplinary curriculum in digital media, arts and technology, blending creative arts and new digital technologies to develop and support an advanced media industry in the Erie region.
Penn State's alumni and friends are invaluable partners in fulfilling the University's land-grant mission of education, research and service. Private gifts from alumni and friends enrich the experiences of students both in and out of the classroom; expand the research and teaching capacity of our faculty; enhance the University's ability to recruit and retain top students and faculty; and help to ensure that students from every economic background have access to a Penn State education. The University's colleges and campuses are now enlisting the support of alumni and friends to advance a range of unit-specific initiatives.