Blog - NYS MATA

Funding Opportunity: Statewide Learning Technology Grant

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: 2009-2012 Statewide Learning Technology Grant (LTG) Applications Available
The purpose of this grant program is to provide progressive integration of instructional technology in classrooms and library media centers, and to provide sustained professional development to increase the skills of teachers in the use of instructional technology, in order to help students attain higher levels of performance in the New York State Learning Standards.

Public school districts and BOCES, or consortiums thereof are eligible to apply. Applicants must give nonpublic schools of all denominations within their boundaries the opportunity to participate. Applicants must also include at least one SURR or SINI school building in the application to be considered for funding. Completed application must be postmarked by August 21, 2009.

Questions about this RFP must be sent to emscltg@mail.nysed.gov no later than June 26, 2009. Answers to these questions will be posted by July 10, 2009 at http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/funding/currentapps.htm. No questions received after June 26, 2009 will be answered. For additional information, please visit NYSED EMSC website at: http://www.emsc.nysed.gov/funding/currentapps.htm.

Leslie Yolen
Visual Arts Associate
Curriculum, Instruction and Instructional Technology Team
New York State Education Department
89 Washington Avenue
Albany, New York 12234
(518) 474-5922
lyolen@mail.nysed.gov
www.emsc.nysed.gov/ciai

Short Cuts 8: A Video Celebration

Short Cuts 8

Niskayuna High School’s annual student film festival returns to the G.E. Theater at Proctors in Downtown Schenectady.

The Niskayuna High School Art Department presents SHORT CUTS 8: a video celebration showcasing outstanding student productions from the 2008-2009 school year on WEDNESDAY JUNE 3rd at 7 PM at the G.E. Theater at Proctors.

Over 25 short films from students in Mr. Honicki’s Studio in Video program will be screened as part of this 8th annual event – including award-winning entries from the Reel Teens USA Festival. Rod Serling Film Festival, Capital Region Media Arts Festival, and Westport Youth Film Festival.

This year’s festival features the award-winning short film, Talk to the Hand, created by Christopher Murphy using stiff frame animation. Murphy’s comedy short just received the prestigious “Best in Show” award at this year’s Rod Serling Video Festival. The film also received accolades for “Best Editing” and an “Honorable Mention” in the Narrative Comedy category at this year’s Capital Region Media Arts Festival. Talk to the Hand tells the story of two friends and their unusual encounter with a new kid at school.

Also included in this year’s line-up is the follow-up to the one of the most highly acclaimed films of last year – Tom Lamanna’s Breakfast. Directed and produced by Electrical Banana Productions (James Belcastro and Matthew Cioffi), Roberry tells the story of a pie maker who resorts to stealing ingredients from his neighbor’s home in order make his tasty treat. This film was awarded “Best Animation” at this year’s Westport Youth Film Festival.

Another highlight of this year’s festival is the short, An Orange In The Orchard. When a young man’s in-class drawing is discovered by his teacher, he is forced to face the repetitive and dehumanizing nature of the environment. Directed and written by senior Daniel Claridge, An Orange In The Orchard reminds us of the importance of individuality.

In addition to the film viewing, the event will also include the SHORTY AWARDS – recognizing outstanding achievement in student short films by the students themselves.

SHORT CUTS 8 is FREE and open to the public. The G.E. Theater at Proctor’s is located at 432 State Street in Schenectady, NY.

This event is made possible by the Niskayuna High School PTO, Time Warner Cable’s “How Cool Is Your School” video competition and the generosity of Proctor’s Theater.

CONTACT: STEPHEN HONICKI

NYSSSA needs your help!

NYSSSA needs your help! The State Division of the Budget has informed the program office that it must immediately begin retrenchment for next summer’s program, with a 50% reduction in funding. This means that at least four of the eight schools will have to be closed. Since auditions have already been held and students selected and notified, this will be devastating news for many of our most promising young artists. The State Legislature and the Office of the Governor have supported NYSSSA for 39 years because they have heard from thousands of parents, students and arts supporters.

If you would like to help restore the NYSSSA schools, please tell our leaders. A sample letter for leaders in the State Legislators and the Office of the Governor is included below, as well as a link to find your local legislators.

Dear :

I am writing to ask you to help restore full funding authority for the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA). For 39 years NYSSSA has served students from every area of the State who represent New York’s economic, cultural and racial diversity, identifying tomorrow’s leaders in the arts and providing them with intensive pre-professional training and career development opportunities. Over 19,000 students have participated in this legislative initiative. The program’s success has been demonstrated by former students’ achievements with top professional companies all over the world and individual testimonials documented in yearly alumni surveys.

The State Division of Budget has advised the NYSSSA office that funding has been reduced by 50% and that the program office must begin planning immediately for retrenchment for the coming year. This means that the NYSSSA will have to close at least 4 of the 8 schools this coming summer. The NYSSSA program office has requested approval of a spending plan of $1,745,000 – representing a 0% increase from the 2008-09 plan. In the past 39 years, there have been very few increases in funding from the State. The cost of operating the eight NYSSSA schools is shared by State revenue funding and student tuition. The unique partnership between the State, New York’s most prominent artists, artistic companies and cultural institutions, and parents has kept program costs to a minimum. NYSSSA continues to ensure that the programs are still accessible to all New York State students, as per the original legislative intent.

I urge you to restore funding authority to NYSSSA to ensure the operation of all eight schools. The program’s funding needs are modest compared to other State initiatives and the return on our tax dollar is great, developing tomorrow’s leaders in the arts and entertainment industry.

Sincerely,

New York State Legislative Leaders:
Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith masmith@senate.state.ny.us
Assembly Majority Leader Ron Canestrari CanestR@ assembly.state.ny.us
Speaker of the Assembly Sheldon Silver Speaker@assembly.state.ny.us
Senate Minority Leader Dean Skelos skelos@senate.state.ny.us
Assembly Minority Leader James Tedisco TediscJ@assembly.state.ny.us
Assembly Ways and Means Committee Chair — Herman D. Farrell, Jr. FarrelH@assembly.state.ny.us
Senate Finance Chair Carl Kruger kruger@senate.state.ny.us
Assembly Education Committee Chair Catherine Nolan NolanC@ assembly.state.ny.us
Senate Education Committee Chair Suzi Oppenheimer oppenhei@senate.state.ny.us

Search for your area legislators http://nymap.elections.state.ny.us/nysboe/

Governor Paterson: http://161.11.121.121/govemail

2009 WNY MATA Show schedule

The 2009 WNY MATA show schedule has been posted. The event will take place Feb. 27, 2009, in the Center for the Arts on the University at Buffalo Amherst Campus. Students and their teachers are invited to exhibit their still images, video and animation; attend workshops on Apple iLife 09, Adobe Flash, digital iron-on transfer and scannergrams; and tour the Departments of Media Study and Visual Studies. If you are in the WNY region and are interested in attending, please contact Liz Randell.

40 Years of Media Arts Education, conference postponed

I regret to report that we have decided to indefinitely postpone our conference, 40 Years of Media Arts Education in New York State. We have been unable to reach the required minimum number of attendees. Our MATA regions have reported that the cost and timing have made it impossible for many to attend during this difficult economic period.

We will continue to work within each of our regions to promote vibrant media arts education programs, and to provide support and training opportunities for media arts teachers. Please keep visiting this site, or subscribe to our RSS feed, to keep up-to-date on new developments.

Your contributions to this ongoing online dialog are welcome. Feel free to provide a 5 minute QuickTime video of yourself describing your program and offering your thoughts on the state of media arts education. MATA members are also invited to showcase their students’ still and video work on this site. Contact Margaret Mealia for details.

How can MATA help you?

One of the visions at the start of planning the conference, 40 Years of Media Arts Education in New York State, was to bring together media arts teachers from across the state, to discuss not only our rich history over the past 4 decades, but also the future of media arts education. We now take this opportunity to rethink the role of the Media Arts Teachers Association in providing value to teachers struggling with the challenges of emerging technologies, budget cuts, and curricular constraints.

Please post your thoughts and comments here. How can the New York State Media Arts Teachers Association help you? What issues are you most concerned with as a media arts teacher?

We look forward to hearing from you.

EMTA Conference presentation

Peter Mahan, a high school art teacher from Hannibal Central Schools and a brand new member of MATA, would like to invite interested members of MATA to a presentation he is giving at the 2008 New York Educational Media teachers (NYSEMTA) Fall Conference related to work he has done with media literacy and video production. The lecture is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday, September 24th at the Otesaga Hotel in Cooperstown, New York. The presentation will consist of two selections of high school student work his classes produced during the 2007 school year and a brief talk on his unique approach to media literacy as it applies to film. If you are interested in more information you can contact him at pmahan@hannibalcsd.org

Want to Make Your Own Film?

Squeaky Wheel in conjunction with Buffalo Tours (a joint project of the Preservation Coalition and the Landmark Society) seeks youth producers for the fourth annual BUFFALO YOUTH MEDIA INSTITUTE, an after-school program for 8th – 12th graders.

Write, shoot and edit a documentary using professional equipment and techniques
Learn more about your community and its history
Earn a stipend for up to five hours of work per week (up to $1,000) Continue reading Want to Make Your Own Film?

The “true cost” of inkjet prints

Red River Paper has posted a revealing report on the cost of ink used to make standard size prints on several Epson printers. For those of us making the transition from conventional to digital printing, this can help us and our students place a monetary value on our prints. I’ve never encountered an analysis of chemical costs per print, but you can at least compare the cost of in-house printing against outside lab costs.

This report does not include the cost of the printer. You may want to amortize that cost over its useful life (perhaps 4 years) and divide it by the estimated number of prints that will be fed through.

NYS Short-film competition

The State of New York is running a short-film competition that invites amateur filmmakers to create their take on the world-famous “I LOVE NY” slogan depicting what they love about New York “In A New York Minute” (a 60-second film.)

Filmmakers will compete for top-notch prizes (professional HD video equipment, scholarships to professional film workshops, a mentorship with a high profile filmmaker, New York weekend getaways) and the opportunity to have their short film screened on a national television network.

One prize will also be awarded to the top film submitted by a New York college/university student who is named the Student Filmmaker of Distinction. A separate category, the Young Filmmaker of Distinction, recognizes filmmakers 14 to 18 years old. Judges for the competition include Tina Fey, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Doug Liman.

The contest opens on June 1; entries will be collected through July 15, and we will announce the winners in September.

The competition will be unveiled this week with a press event at George Eastman House in Rochester. We would like to invite students, teachers and local filmmakers to join us for the announcement. The event will take place on Thursday, May 29th at The George Eastman House. We’ll unveil the details of the competition to the public and the media – including a short video from judge Tina Fey. NY State regional film commissioners will be there; students can ask questions and be in the news photos. They’ll be the first to get all the details!

The event will begin at 2:00 pm; we are asking guests to arrive at 1:30 pm. I have included the event details and an overview of the contest below. Information on RSVPs is below.

We’re eager to let as many students and aspiring filmmakers as possible know about the competition. I can be reached at 507.645.9525 or betsy.spethmann@cegny.com.

WHAT: Press conference officially launching the “I Love NY” Short Film Competition. Attendees include Dan Gundersen – Upstate Chairman of Empire State Development Corporation, Pat Kaufman – Executive Director of The Governor’s Office for Motion Picture and Television Development, Dr. Anthony Bannon – Director of The George Eastman House, and others.

WHEN: Thursday, May 29, 2:00 PM -Guests should arrive at 1:30 PM

WHERE: George Eastman House, Rochester, NY – Dryden Theater
Parking will be available on site