This article was originally written by Richard Burgess of The Advocate. Published: September 23, 2011.
Things are about to get a lot more technical in Lafayette. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette (ULL) has announced a partnership with The Academy of Interactive Entertainment. The Academy will be operating out of the LITE Center at the ULL Research Park beginning in January of 2012.
The Academy will run a school for video game design, 3-D animation and visual effects, offering training that officials say could help spur the local digital media industry. The school will offer “top-tier” training and represents a big win for the state’s emerging industry, said Jeff Pellegrin, director of the Louisiana Digital Gaming Initiative.
Pellegrin said the difficulty for the growing industry is often a chicken-or-egg problem — jobs are needed to spur demand for the training, but a trained workforce is needed to attract the jobs.
“Lafayette just landed its biggest egg, and I can’t wait to see the chickens come behind,” he said.
Read the full article at The Advocate.