BATON ROUGE, La (BRPROUD) Gov. John Bel Edwards announced on Saturday, August 21 that Louisiana State University will receive $1.25 million over the next five years to develop its Virtual Production & Emerging Media Filmmaking program.
The performance-based grant is from Louisiana’s new Entertainment Development Fund and will be administered by Louisiana Economic Development. LSU will receive five yearly installments of $250,000 for equipment, plus any faculty and administrative costs.
“Our Entertainment Development Fund aims to prepare Louisiana residents for the broad range of quality jobs that the entertainment industry is creating in our state,” Edwards said. “The fund was created with workforce development and education in mind, and LSU will support both with this exciting program.”
The program will be based at LSU’s main campus in Baton Rouge and aims to provide a specialized curriculum that will on content creation and talent development. It will also promote and support the hiring of Louisiana residents in the state’s entertainment industry.
“I am excited to see our flagship university join in this effort, with plans for an innovative new course of study in production and filmmaking for new media,” Edwards said.