On Wednesday, April 18th, the creative students of the Living Arts College gathered to hear first
hand, guest speaker Emily White as she delivered an interactive presentation on her quest as
an Imaginyst. Emily is a former intern of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts in Orlando, Florida.
During her tenure with Disney, she was granted the opportunity to work with a team of creative
professionals responsible for Marketing; she also volunteered to assist with special projects in
the Digital Promotions and Special Media departments.

The presentation begins with the question, what is creativity? This captivated students’
attention, and several decided to respond. “Revamping and coming up with an idea”, states
Animation and Game Design student, Darrick Ingram.

The week of April 15th – April 21st marks World Creativity and Innovation week. Emily’s creativity
was to share and inspire the students on her story. “We all have creative potential-celebrate it”,
states White. Half-way through the presentation, Emily challenged the students to search within
their creative minds and make it a point to celebrate and spread the word.

She also addressed the stages of creativity. In summarization, it’s important for each individual
student to define their personal creative style and process while learning how to be deliberate
with it. In today’s society, it’s imperative to learn how to clarify visions while knowing how to
transform the level of creativity during the implementation process. She educated the students
on the importance of networking and how imperative it is to purchase a journal or sketch book to
capture observations on what inspires you to wonder.

At the conclusion of the presentation, Emily challenged each student to think outside of the box.
She took a poll using a T-table to see how many students would be willing to display Goldfish
Ornaments on a Christmas tree. This caused a brief uproar as the students were trying to
determine how this would be possible and if the goldfish would be live or the delicious animal
crackers. This food for thought left the students pondering on how to explore creativity within
their mind while having the ability to create a lifetime of wonders.

A 30-second public service announcement made by Living Arts College students touting water conservation for the city of Raleigh captured first place in a recent competition.

Student Eric Hunsley directed, wrote and edited the PSA and won $1,500 for his efforts. Two of the four other PSAs submitted by Living Arts students earned honorable mention honors. The win was for the “Emerging Professional PSA Competition” held by the city’s Environmental Awards Program for 2012.

In all, three groups of Living Arts students and students from four other schools produced 16 announcements.

At Living Arts College, film projects go through a rigorous vetting with instructors that includes public readings and constructive criticism at every step, much like the green-lighting process that Hollywood studios employ, says film program coordinator and instructor Michael Pearce and instructor Youssef Osman.

Hunsley overcame some challenges on the way to making the award-winning spot, hurdles that Pearce said made for “an extremely tough pre-production period.” One involved finding an extremely-fit man who would be comfortable taking off his shirt.

Hunsley got plenty of help to create his winning entry. Under Pearce’s guidance, students Ian Kowalski, Douglas Newman, Senora Roberson and Lizz Allred helped turn Hunsley’s idea into a prize-winner.

Hunsley moved from Washington D.C. nearly four years ago to get away from the hustle-and-bustle of the nation’s capitol. He left a job in the human resources department of the U.S. Senate, one in which he worked on creating an orientation video for new employees. “That’s when I started thinking I could make a career at this,” he said.

When Hunsley and his partner moved to Wake Forest, he didn’t have a job lined up and wasn’t sure what he was going to do. “I was really open,” he said. Eventually, the 45-year-old decided to enroll in the Living Arts College’s film program, in part, he found the school’s night-time class options attractive. Hunsley recently earned a certificate in digital filmmaking from the college. Last week he began studying to earn a second one-year certificate in digital filmmaking. Casting was Hunsley’s biggest hurdle while making the 30-second spot. “Casting was a nightmare,” he said. “I wasn’t prepared for how challenging it would be.”

Hunsley first asked friends, and then turned to his former personal trainer for help. Next he contacted three gyms to find “a really ripped guy.” In all, it took Hunsley two weeks to find Jonathan Baines, who was comfortable taking off his shirt on-camera.

“I was panicking because the deadline was approaching and I didn’t have anybody,” Hunsley said.

Hunsley’s PSA only had five words of dialogue and was essentially the same as he had initially pictured. The spot features Baines and actor Kara Leigh Maloney. Baines is brushing his teeth and leaves the water on as Maloney, clad in a negligee, appears behind him. At first it appears Maloney’s character is admiring Baines’ physique, but she instead scolds him for wasting water.

On March 23, Hunsley found out he had won first place. He credits his “incredible crew” with helping him earn top honors.

At 13, Brittany Alston knew she wanted to be a documentary filmmaker.

It’s only natural then that she would want to immerse herself neck-deep in the biggest and one
of best documentary film festivals in the U.S.

For the second straight year, the Living Arts College student will volunteer at the Full Frame
Documentary Film Festival in Durham. The festival, which runs from April 12 to 15, gives
Alston a chance to watch great documentaries and meet and network with filmmakers,
cinematographers and fellow students.

“You get to meets tons of people who love films and movies. You learn so much by talking to
people,” says Alston, a 23-year-old Rocky Mount native.

Alston particularly enjoys the post-screen interviews she conducts with festival patrons. “You
catch them off-guard,” Alston says. “You get a real answer.”

The interviews are invaluable to Alston, who said she will use them as a guide to what viewers
care about and to help her choose subjects to tackle.

At the 2012 edition of Full Frame, Alston hopes to see more great films and interact with
filmmakers like director and cinematographer Peter Richardson, whose acclaimed documentary,
How to Die in Oregon, captured two awards at Full Frame in 2011, as well as the top prizes at
the Sundance and Ashland film festivals.

After watching the film, Alston was among those who sat in on a question-and-answer session
with Richardson.

Alston also will resume a friendly competition with LAC Film Program Coordinator Michael
Pearce. Despite seeing somewhere between 20 and 30 documentaries during the 2011 festival,
Pearce saw more films than she did, Alston said.

“I’ll get him this year, though,” Alston says.

Living Arts College student, Jonathon Muldrow, has brought pride to the community through his outstanding volunteering efforts! He was among the 20 citizens of surrounding counties, and the only Wake County Resident, receiving the Governor’s Medallion Award for Volunteer Service for 2011.

As stated by Governor Bev Perdue: “These volunteers play an integral part in enhancing the quality of life for North Carolinians, and for that we are grateful for their service.”

Jonathon started volunteering at the young age of 4. He began at the Richard B. Harrison Library where he eventually because a team leader for the community children doing various activities like team building exercises, science Saturdays, and karaoke nights. He was even recently offered a permanent position at the library due to his devotion to the community.

The recipients of this award gathered together for a ceremony at the State Capital in November 2011. They were each presented with a medallion and a certificate by the Governor in appreciation for their volunteered time and energy. Jonathan has also been invited to this year’s ceremony where he will witness the 2012 outstanding volunteers receive their awards.

The Medallion Award for Volunteer Service program started in 1979 and is continuing to grow as more and more people are getting involved. To date, there have been just over 16,000 people recognized for their outstanding volunteer services to North Carolina’s communities.

Living Arts College photography students Emma Nieradka and Gerri Fernandez won Student Silver ADDY awards at the District ADDY competition in Greenville, S.C., in late March.

Judges mulled over submissions on March 23 and 24 before announcing the winning entries on March 26.

Nieradka won for her photograph, The Art of Tea; Fernandez won for a photograph of a Native American woman entitled Moments.

“Emma and Gerri are two very eclectic photography students who have this exceptional taste
in their own areas,” says Vince Gardner, the Program Coordinator for Interactive Media Arts at Living Arts College.

Nieradka’s strength is her ability to photograph a product and accentuate the beauty of it while Fernandez
“has this uncanny ability to capture the photojournalistic biographical style of almost any subject,” Gardner adds.

Since Living Arts College was founded nearly 20 years ago, LAC students have snagged a number of awards. But the proliferation of hardware-grabbing at the regional and district levels of the ADDY student competitions this year is unusual, according to Gardner.

The wins by Nieradka and Fernandez represent a wealth of “well-crafted work,” Gardner says.

Living Arts College students Matthew Farmer and Kaya Black did “outstanding work” on the Kris
Marceno Talent Show, says audio instructor Craig Brandwynne. “Matthew was instrumental for
the success of the show” on March 25, Brandwynne said. “Not only did he run front-of-house
sound, he helped with the lights and camera audio.”

Black “helped out by being a stage hand, moving microphones, keyboards and making sure
that the stage was always set for the following act as well as assisting the stage manager,”
Brandwynne added.

Living Arts College interviewed at 2012 Raleigh St. Patrick’s Day Parade from Living Arts College on Vimeo.

The sidewalks in downtown Raleigh were lined with thousands of people watching the 30th
annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade. Living Arts College (LAC) students, faculty and staff marched
for the first time this year. The weather was amazing for the occasion.

“I have been a longtime parade-goer and I thought it would be a fun idea to have the LAC
Student Ambassadors march in the parade. Many other college groups and organizations
participate each year and I thought why not us. The Student Ambassadors were very excited
about the idea and they showed enthusiasm and really worked the crowd,” said Rachael
Lancaster, Director of Professional Services.

LAC, the 122nd group in line to march, gave out green beaded necklaces, a variety of candies,
and brochures about the College and its programs. “Participating in the parade this year was a
really great experience. I had fun representing my school and bringing a positive attitude to the
people who could be future students,” said Nathan Wellman, Interactive Media Arts student.

“It was fun to experience Raleigh life, as a school,” said Brandon McGuffin, Photography
student. “We were able to show many non-advertised faces of the school…the behind the
scenes if you will.”

The parade started out in 1983 with around a dozen marchers being cheered on by a small
crowd of downtown Raleigh residents and merchants. Now more than 120 groups marched in
front of crowds running five-people deep along parts of Fayetteville Street and Blount Street.

LAC plans to participate in the parade years to follow. “It was an honor to be a part of the
parade, good to be involved with the Raleigh Community,” said Carl Washington, Filmmaking
student. “Next year will be even better as we set our foundation as one of Raleigh’s best.”

Living Arts College faculty and students attended the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco March 7-9. Bigger and better than ever, GDC 2012 brought together a record-breaking 22,500 game professionals and industry luminaries from across the global community for five days of inspiring industry learning and dialogue. The main conference kicked off on Wednesday with GDC’s first-ever “Flash Forward,” a session that saw nearly 100 main conference speakers each take the stage for a forty-five second brief overview of their sessions in front of thousands of attendees.

Kwame Hawkins, Animation & Game Design Program Coordinator was one of the faculty members to chaperone the students. “One thing that stood out to me was the fact that there was space set aside for independent developers and student developers. There was an emphasis on companies wanting to talk to students and professors. I would highly encourage anyone interested in game development to attend,” said Kwame.

The conference featured over 400 lectures, panels, tutorials and round-table discussions on a comprehensive selection of game development topics taught by leading industry experts. In addition, the GDC expo showcased all of the most relevant game development tools, platforms and services helping to drive the industry forward. The conference also featured the fourteenth annual Independent Games Festival, where new, unpublished games competed for the attention of the publishing community, and the twelfth annual Game Developers Choice Awards, the premier accolades for peer-recognition in the digital games industry.

Following the success of the show, organizers have announced that GDC 2013 will return to the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco from Monday, March 25 to Friday, March 29, 2013.

Below are some of the comments from Animation & Game Design students that attended the conference this year:

“At GDC I met and talked to many lead game designers. They gave me helpful advice and criticism of my work. I had a great time and I can’t wait to go again.” -Katie Creel

“GDC presented an amazing, (hopefully) once in a lifetime experience for me; the day that I left for the trip, I found that my branding package was lost in the mail. I took it as a challenge and was still able to make tons of wonderful contacts as well as possible job prospects. Confidence, ingenuity, and happy accident taught me to better sell myself, regardless of any situation.” -Darrick Ingram

“While at GDC I got to see what a great networking opportunity it can be and how involved game studios and other companies are with the conference. I also enjoyed seeing the sights of the beautiful city of San Francisco. I feel I know more of what this industry expects from artists.” -Hunter Williams

“This trip to GDC was just as amazing as my first trip. I had the chance to network and get advice from industry professionals. Exploring San Francisco was the icing on the cake.” -Natalie Gordiano

“This has been my third trip to GDC and much like the first trip it has been a worthwhile venture. I can’t place value on the professionals I have talked with and the contacts I have made.” -Holly Rowland

Raleigh-based artists Jeremy Maronpot and Living Arts College graduate Roger Flake were
on campus last week sharing their unique business, Mystery Build, which is based on the idea
that having limited resources does not limit possibilities. Those limited resources will give you
inspiration.

Roger says they came up with the idea for Mystery Build while working on a stop motion
animation project. “Stop motion animation is a very tedious process. You really have a lot of
time to talk about what else you could be doing. We were listening to a story on NPR about
American ingenuity and the ability to create something from nothing, and we had just received
a kit in the mail for a puppet armature. It was just a box of hundreds of loose parts. We
thought ‘You could make anything out of this.’”

That conversation evolved into the concept for Mystery Build, an art contest with a unique
twist. Participants purchase a Mystery Build Kit that contains a variety of sculpting media –
clay, wood, wire, soap, etc. – then create a work of art using only the materials provided in the
Kit. Jeremy and Roger launched the inaugural Mystery Build challenge in May of 2011, which
required that the resulting creation be based on a song.

Mystery Build is dedicated to encouraging creativity. Too often, when times get economically
challenging, art suffers. Many believe art is a luxury and nonessential. Jeremy and Roger
believe the exact opposite. That is why they created the Mystery Build Challenge and why they
are giving away $10K.

Both Roger and Jeremy say that Mystery Build is about creative thinking and artistic
exploration…the prize money is just a perk.

The students of Living Arts College had the opportunity to win three kits just by playing a
few games. At the start of the presentation Jeremy and Roger gave out a quiz and the first
to complete would win a Mystery Build kit. About ten minutes into the presentation, front row
participant Owen Hutchings, a film student, began the quiz and before you knew it he had folded
it into a paper airplane and flew it across the stage. Roger yelled out we have a winner! If you
followed the directions all the way through the quiz you would know to make your quiz into a
paper airplane.

Another opportunity to win a kit was to be the first to name the 2011 Mystery Build Winner.
Quentin Stewart, an Interactive Media Arts student was the first to answer the question
correctly.

The last opportunity to win a kit was to be the first to name the mystery celebrity behind the
disappearing virtual blocks. The blocks began to disappear one by one revealing just a bit of the
puzzle. As the blocks disappeared gradually over the mystery celebrity’s face, Ashley Amrhein
guessed the celebrity to be Christopher Walken, and as all the blocks disappeared Ashley’s
guess was revealed correct.

The Living Arts College students still have the opportunity to purchase their very own Mystery
Build kits at a 30% discount, making the kit only $35. To find out more on how to purchase a
Mystery Build kit please visit www.mysterybuild.com.