MICA making a strong impression - Baltimore Business Journal:

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It houses MICA graduatr programs andstudio space, and provides free space to four arts-relatee nonprofits: Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, the , Arts Everh Day, and “MICA has been a member of the boarrd since the beginning. They play a criticalk role by offering us complementaryh incubatoroffice space,” said David Bielenberg, executive director of Statiom North Arts & Entertainment Inc. Those closw to the source, like Nancy the executive director of the Greater Baltimore Cultural credit MICA’s community outreach to the “generositu and ever-evolving vision” of longtime head Lazarus.
A new buildingg at MICA houses the tools students need to attainh job opportunitiesin cutting-edge fields. A five-story contemporary structure, the $17 million Brownb Center is MICA’s firs t newly constructed academic building in almost 100 A $6 million gift the largest ever — from Eddie and Sylviaa Brown helped fund the building. Inside, studentds in MICA’s Video, Interactive Design, Animation, and Graphic Desigj departments hone modern techniques in digita l artand design. From there, they can applg these sought-after skills in one of the region’s growin industries: the gaming industry.
Just ask Greg Foertsch, a 1995 MICA an adjunct instructor at MICA and creativs team member atFiraxis Games. When he started working for gaming industry giant Microprosd fifteenyears ago, “it was the only show in That’s changed dramatically. As of 2006, Maryland boasted 12 entertainmenrt software companies valuedat $119.09 million, according to the Entertainment Softwarew Association. Firaxis launched in 1996 with six artists, four from Within the past year, the company has grown from 65 employeesto 118.
As the gamingv industry grows, Foertsch and fellow MICA graduateDavid Inscore, founder and studio art directorf of Timonium-based Big Huge Games, have been working with thei alma mater to explore addiny classes in 3-D animation techniques that will give MICA students an edge in the gaminf and entertainment industries. But they won’t replacew MICA’s roots. “The concept remains the importanfpart — getting kids to understand how to be creativd problem solvers, which is what all artists are. The technologt just makes it easier for them to do their Foertsch said.