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NEWS
March 13, 2008
Grant Helps Teachers Focus on Visual Communications
Red River Theatres Receives $10,000 Grant from Lincoln Financial Foundation
Red River Theatres, the Concord region’s only non-profit, independent movie theater, announced today it received a $10,000 grant from the Lincoln Financial Foundation to develop a media education program for area teachers.
“There has been a profound shift in the past two decades away from written communication and towards visual communication as a leading form of information exchange,” said Connie Rosemont, interim executive director at Red River Theatres. “Young people are especially affected by this trend towards visual-based communication, which includes film, television and the Internet. This grant will allow Red River to act as a regional center for media literacy education and add to the existing media education opportunities available at area schools.”
In fact, one of the most innovative and nationally recognized media literacy courses is offered to juniors at Concord High School, but despite the work the school has done, the teaching team feels that the program has not been able to reach its potential due to a lack of teacher training and experience in the creative elements of media production. Denise Fournier, the grade 11 Media Literacy Program coordinator, said, “We welcome the opportunity to partner with Red River Theatres in an effort to put greater emphasis on the students as the creators. Doing this will bring us closer to our district and school goal that students will be ’creative producers who use invention, design and critical assessment.’" It was conversations with teachers at area high schools that prompted Red River to submit the grant.
Lincoln Foundation is excited to partner with Red River Theatres to provide this professional development opportunity for Concord-area teachers, according to Byron Champlin, Lincoln Financial Group assistant vice president and program officer. “It’s gratifying to see Red River Theatres taking the first steps towards becoming a regional educational resource in media literacy and the cinematic arts,” Champlin said.
Lincoln Foundation is a long-time supporter of the theater. As founding sponsor, with a generous donation of $250,000, the theater’s large cinema bears Lincoln’s name.
With grant funds Red River will develop and host a professional development workshop in which media professionals will instruct up to ten area teachers in the theory and techniques of teaching media creation. The training will include a dedicated segment on the special aspects of film production as a form of media communication. Details for interested teachers will be available online in early April at www.redrivertheatres.org.
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