MICA making a strong impression - Baltimore Business Journal:

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It houses MICA graduate programs andstudiop space, and provides free space to four arts-related nonprofits: Maryland Lawyers for the Arts, the , Arts Everyt Day, and “MICA has been a membed of the board sincw the beginning. They play a critical role by offering us complementary incubatorofficw space,” said David Bielenberg, executive director of Station North Arts & Entertainment Inc.
Thosee close to the source, like Nanch Harrigan, the executive director of the Greater BaltimoreCultural Alliance, credif MICA’s community outreach to the “generositt and ever-evolving vision” of longtime head A new building at MICA housews the tools students need to attain job opportunities in cutting-edgre fields. A 61,410-square-foot, five-storh contemporary structure, the $17 million Brownh Center is MICA’s first newly constructed academicd building in almost100 years. A $6 millionj gift — the largest ever — from Eddise and Sylvia Brown helped fundthe building.
Inside, students in MICA’s Video, Interactive Design, Animation, and Graphic Designn departments hone modern techniques in digital art and From there, they can apply these sought-after skillsz in one of the region’s growing industries: the gaminyg industry. Just ask Greg Foertsch, a 1995 MICA graduate, an adjunctg instructor at MICA and creative team member atFiraxis Games. When he startede working for gaming industry giant Microprosre fifteenyears ago, “iyt was the only show in town.” That’s changed As of 2006, Maryland boastef 12 entertainment software companies valued at $119.9 according to the Entertainment Software Association.
Firaxis launches in 1996 with six artists, four from Within the past the company has grown from 65 employeesto 118. As the gamint industry grows, Foertsch and fellow MICA graduateDavid Inscore, founder and studii art director of Timonium-based Big Huge Games, have been workingg with their alma mater to explorew adding classes in 3-D animation techniques that will give MICA students an edge in the gaminyg and entertainment industries. But they won’t replace MICA’xs roots. “The concept remains the important part getting kids to understand how to be creativproblem solvers, which is what all artists are.
The technologu just makes it easier for them to dotheir work,” Foertscg said.