[image-1]Thanks to a $7.5 million lift from the Ohio capital budget, Cleveland State University will be home to the state's first standalone film school.
CSU President Ronald Berkman, the Greater Cleveland Film Commission's Ivan Schwarz and state officials announced the school of film, television and interactive media at a press conference Friday morning.
"This new school will provide a unique opportunity for students to receive first-rate instruction in a growing industry, while furthering the development of Cleveland as a center of film and TV production," Berkman said.
The school will be housed in a new building, likely to be built as an addition to the current Music and Communication Building on Euclid (west of the student center and E. 21st).
An undergraduate film program has been offered for about a decade within the school of communication, and students have long worked on local film projects, largely coordinated through the Film Commission. So the ongoing partnership makes sense.
Also announced was the construction of a bona fide sound stage in the region. This is intended to facilitate additional filmmaking projects and will be an additional carrot for filmmakers who are already enticed by the Ohio Tax Credit, which reimburses them 20 percent of the amount they spend in Ohio.
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