Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced that the first satellite campus for New Mexico’s Next Generation Media Academy will be co-located with Doña Ana Community College and New Mexico State University at the NMSU Arrowhead Center in Las Cruces.
The Media Academy is a priority initiative for Gov. Lujan Grisham, who has identified film and television production as a priority industry in the state to create higher-paying jobs and diversify the economy. The Next Generation Academy will be a certificate program that fast-tracks people into in-demand jobs with high-level training and on set paid apprenticeships. The Las Cruces facility will coordinate film, television, and media into a core bilingual curriculum and will have a one-of-a-kind program that teaches high school and college instructors about the industry.
The Next Generation Media Academy is supported with a total appropriation of $40 million secured by Gov. Lujan Grisham in the 2022 legislative session. With a hub in Albuquerque, and at least one branch to be located in Las Cruces, the film academy will be the epicenter for film, television and digital media training and job competencies. The Academy is a partnership between the New Mexico Economic Development Department, the Higher Education Department, the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, and the New Mexico film partnerships established by 2019’s Senate Bill 2, Netflix and NBCUniversal.
“The creation of this Next Generation Media Academy, and its satellite location in Las Cruces, represents a tremendous investment in the state’s film and digital media workforce,” said NMSU Chancellor Dan Arvizu. “We’re delighted that Doña Ana Community College and the New Mexico State University System can be a part of this effort that will have a significant economic impact on our state.”
Release courtesy of the New Mexico Economic Development Department. Posted August 2, 2022
