News Releases
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Partners with The Art Institutes to Create Public Educational Cartoons
Campaign to Star Animated
Teddy Roosevelt and Friends; Introduce Wildlife to Inner City Youth
Art Institute students will have the daunting task of making a two-dimensional Teddy Roosevelt come alive in an animated educational campaign entitled, "The Teddy Project". The project, which partners the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service with sixteen Art Institute schools, is designed to introduce urban youth to the wonder of natural wildlife within its own habitat.
The Teddy Project will pair regional National Wildlife Refuges with a local Art Institute, where students will use animation and other multimedia to research, develop, and execute a 60-120 second animated educational cartoon. The cartoons will feature a cast of characters including National Wildlife Refuge creator Teddy Roosevelt, his side-kick Puddles the blue goose, and a new host character created by each Art Institute school.
A partnership of this magnitude is important to assure that we are making a difference in the communities where Art Institute schools reside. At The Art Institutes students learn not only the practical and technical skills needed to arm them in the workforce but also how to put these skills to use by applying them in a setting that makes a difference in the community that surrounds them," says John Mazzoni, president of The Art Institutes.
Funded by a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, each participating Art Institute will receive $1,000 to provide students with supplies and recording time. The final versions will be used both locally and nationally as informational pieces about the 547 National Wildlife Refuges nationwide. The announcements will also be shown at local movie theaters, visitor centers, outreach events, and schools, as well as at the National Conservation Film Festival.
Among the Art Institutes involved with The Teddy Project are the schools located in Atlanta, GA; Boston, MA (as The New England Institute of Art); Dallas, TX; Denver, CO; Fort Lauderdale, FL; Houston, TX; Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles (as The Art Institute of California - Los Angeles and California Design College); Miami , FL (as Miami International University of Art & Design); Minneapolis, MN; New York, NY; Philadelphia, PA; Portland, OR; San Diego (as The Art Institute of California - San Diego); San Francisco (as The Art Institute of California - San Francisco); and Seattle, WA.
The Art Institutes (www.artinstitutes.edu), with 31 education institutions located throughout North America, provide an important source of design, media arts, fashion and culinary professionals. The parent company of The Art Institutes, Education Management Corporation (www.edmc.com) is among the largest providers of private post-secondary education in North America, based on student enrollment and revenue. Student enrollment exceeded 72,000 as of fall 2005. EDMC has 71 primary campus locations in 24 states and two Canadian provinces. EDMC's education institutions offer a broad range of academic programs concentrated in the media arts, design, fashion, culinary arts, behavioral sciences, health sciences, education, information technology and business fields, culminating in the award of associate's through doctoral degrees. EDMC has provided career-oriented education for over 40 years.
"The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the principal Federal agency responsible for conserving, protecting and enhancing fish, wildlife and plants and their habitats for the continuing benefit of the American people. The Service manages the 94-million-acre National Wildlife Refuge System which encompasses more than 535 national wildlife refuges, thousands of small wetlands and other special management areas. It also operates 70 national fish hatcheries, 64 fishery resource offices and 78 ecological services field stations. The agency enforces Federal wildlife laws, administers the Endangered Species Act, manages migratory bird populations, restores nationally significant fisheries, conserves and restores wildlife habitat such as wetlands, and helps foreign governments with their conservation efforts. It also oversees the Federal Aid program that distributes hundreds of millions of dollars in excise taxes on fishing and hunting equipment to state fish and wildlife agencies."
For more information Contact:
Devra Pransky
The Art Institutes
412-995-7685
dpransky@aii.edu
