Posted June 17, 2016
15 Years of JBFC Education
By Emily Keating, JBFC Director of Education
One of the most astonishing ways to reflect upon the last 15 years is to consider how our interaction with visual media has exploded. We understood, even in 2001, that the access to production and distribution of images was changing how we interact with one another. Yet who could have truly foreseen the platforms that have arisen in YouTube, Instagram, Snapchat, and Vine? Who might have anticipated the impact these tools would have on the stories we could share and discover in Tunisia, Egypt, and across the US? At the JBFC’s founding, we committed ourselves to raising a generation of students that would be equipped and inspired to fully participate in––and contribute to––this digitally and visually connected world. Our programs now span pre-K–adulthood, with each step providing opportunities to view, create, and connect. We know the pace of media innovation in the next 15 years will not slow down, and as a result, our efforts to help students and schools keep up with technology must only increase.
At this exciting moment of celebration and reflection, I acknowledge the incredible faculty of the education department. As we move through this evolving landscape of media education and, in some cases, help to define the field, we look to the future with great anticipation. We’re more resolved than ever to impact teachers through professional development, supporting integration of media production into their teaching practices and content. We aim to bring our integrated pre-K–grade 12 curriculum, Image, Sound, and Story, to schools across the country, creating the storytellers, media artists, and change makers of the future.
