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Literacy in media arts is broad, diverse, and addresses creative, conceptual, and technical competencies that exist globally. Media arts are the emerging basis for communications, design, and social interaction in our increasingly digitally centered world, and California’s creative economy. Therefore, students should gain experience in production and design that has real-world relevance and applications that can include the following:

 

 

Multimedia Communication
The ability to communicate and express in a variety of media forms or combined media, using various tools and processes, for specific purposes, intentions, and audiences.

 

 

Interdisciplinary Integration
Media arts projects can incorporate multiple content areas and artistic disciplines, such as a video broadcast of student-produced documentaries, dramatic stories, and informational bulletins for the school campus.

 

 

Design Thinking
A problem-based approach of producing iterations, prototypes, and models, which are repeatedly tested and revised and lead to a successful result.

 

 

Media and Digital Literacies
Media arts students practice critical autonomy in discerning the quality and veracity of media. They are empowered in producing their own messages and products and in conscientious, civic-minded engagement in virtual environments.

 

 

A proud native of Los Angeles, Jorge Caridad attended LAUSD schools as a child where he participated in high school athletics, music and theater arts programs at the historic Garfield High School in East Los Angeles. He attended California State University, Los Angeles where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in Radio, Television and Film Production. Throughout his career in the entertainment industry, Mr. Caridad has worked at various media outlets such as KABC 7 LA, KKBT 92.3: The Beat, MGM Studios, KVEA Telemundo LA, KWHY-Canal 22 LA, Time Warner Cable Sports and UFC Television. During his time as a Television Producer at Time Warner Cable Deportes, Mr. Caridad earned two award nominations from the prestigious Imagen Foundation and in 2015 was the recipient of an Emmy Award for his work on the Original Television Series #LAPrepa.

 

Jorge Caridad is now a Television and Film Instructor at Ramon C. Cortines School of Visual and Performing Arts. He earned his Career Technical Education- Teaching Credential from the University of San Diego. Mr. Caridad has also received Media Arts curriculum training from the California Department of Education, Warner Bros., Ghetto Film School, Directing Change, Adobe, Unreal Engine and Epic Games. He teaches beginning, intermediate and advanced video production to students in the Media Arts Academy which he helped establish in 2022. In addition to his role as a Media Arts Educator, Mr. Caridad is also the AME Workforce Training Grant Coordinator, which helps fund many of our students' work-based learning opportunities. Through this grant funding our Media Arts students have access to field trips, workshops, conferences and internships that have been provided by our industry partners IATSE, Girls Make Beats, BRIC Foundation, BAFTA, Creating Creators, Spotify, Soundtrap, Netflix, Critical Media Project, International Documentary Association, MOCA, CREATE CA, LACC, CSULA, Woodbury University and Whittier College.

 

 

Paul Wilkens was born in East Los Angeles. Has a Bachelor of Art Degree from California State University Fullerton, single subject teaching credential, Masters of Fine art from California State University Los Angeles specializing in interactive multimedia art installation. Mr. Wilkens studied abroad in France where he has had the experience of visiting the caves of Loir Valley and has influence his art style. Has had various art, art installations, performance art showcase in southern, and northern California. Has done two group art exhibitions at the MOCA Geffen in downtown Los Angeles. He has worked at the Museum of Contemporary art volunteering for over 12 years working with visitor services and special events downtown Los Angeles. Additionally, Mr. Wilkens worked as a graphic designer for a wholesale monument company and as a Junior Network Engineer accumulating over 12 years of computer/graphic design experience.

 

Mr. Wilkens Has worked for Los Angeles Unified School District teaching art for more than twenty years. He teaches Animation, Digital Imaging, Game Design and uses Adobe After Effects, Adobe Animate, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Blender, Harmony ToonBoom, Harmony Story Board Pro, Epic Twin Motion, Epic Unreal, Epic Fortnite Creative, Processing (Java), and PureData.

 

 

Mr. Copley is a native South African, hailing from the Cape Of Good Hope. He graduated from University of Cape Town’s drama school and completed his Masters of Arts in Modern Drama Studies form University College Dublin, in Ireland. Mr. Copley opened Grand Arts in 2009, and directed the inaugural theatrical production, La Llorona, on the main stage. Since then he has served administratively as an Arts Integration Specialist and as an Assistant Principal. In addition, Mr. Copley has produced multiple LAUSD arts festival which include: Eastside Festival, RFK Mural Project, South-Central Dance Festival, Youth Dreaming Performing Arts Festival, and most recently – the Media Arts Education Symposium. He is currently the Arts Coordinator at Grand Arts. He has forged sustainable industry partnerships with: Center Theatre Group, LA Opera, the Music Center, The Broad, Hauser & Wirth, Directing Change, New Film Makers LA and many others. He is also a member of SAG/AFTRA and Actors Equity.

 

Mr. Copley directs the Screenwriting Pathway in the Media Arts Academy. Storytelling is a key component in every single artistic form. Dance, Visual Art, Theatre, Cinema and Music, all interpret life and project storylines invoking emotional and psychological engagement with the viewer and listener. Creative screenwriting focuses on narrative constructs and manipulatives that bring fiction and non-fiction to life. Our “Creatives” at Grand Arts know that their writing builds belief, fosters new mythologies, excites humor, while invoking wonder. Students culminate knowing deeply how to challenge their audience to question critically and to develop aesthetically. 

 

The Media Arts Education Symposium 2022 was a major historical celebration of the birth of Media Arts Education (MAE), an exhibit of its current practices and benefits for students, schools and communities, and a call for its full institutional establishment in CA and across the US. 

 

 

It is imperative that these vital forms of production and design become standard, high-quality offerings in schools and other educational settings. These offerings are important for students to skillfully wield these forms for their own creative expression, academic development and career preparation, as well as to gain critical literacies in analyzing multimedia experiences.
-Media Arts Committee, National Coalition for Core Arts Standards, "National Media Arts Education Initiative"