Wednesday, May 06, 2015

Tribeca Flashpoint Renames Itself a College, Expands Its Offerings

Tribeca Flashpoint Renames Itself a College, Expands Its Offerings

Karis Hustad - Staff writer
05/05/15 @1:21pm




A Howard Tullman and Robert De Niro-backed digital media and arts institution is expanding its reach in the Chicago higher education world.
Tribeca Flashpoint College, formerly Tribeca Flashpoint Academy, changed its name to reflect its recently expanded education options, alumni reach, and career services, indicating its growing presence and nascent success educating the digital creatives of tomorrow.
"In addition to broadening and deepening our educational offerings, we have expanded our student services, particularly in the areas of career services and student finance," said Tribeca Flashpoint College CEO Todd Steele in a release.
Tribeca Flashpoint College, located near Daley Plaza downtown, started as a two year digital media training institute with 1871 CEO Howard Tullman at its helm (he has since moved on to other ventures). In the eight years since it began, the college joined forces with Robert De Niro's Tribeca film school and expanded to offer three bachelors degree and six associate degree options. Students study subjects such as digital arts, film post-production, marketing, and animation.
The school's next expansion is in career services including an internship fair, on-campus recruiting, weekly advising sessions, and sessions on how to build a brand (this is a digital media school after all).
"In light of the rich and effective educational experience afforded to our students, we believe 'College' to be a more appropriate designation for our institution," Steele added.
The school has also started to track their employment metrics. For example, last year the school overall had a 70 percent graduate rate in 2014, and 84 percent of alumni in the associates recording arts program found jobs. But the school is still relatively young, which means metrics for newer programs won't be around for awhile.
All the programs are accredited. Tribeca Flashpoint College tells students to budget about $42,000 total per year cost which can be covered through federal aid, private loans, or through merit-based scholarships the school offers.
With that being said, the school is growing every year and is especially hoping its growing connections in Chicago and project-based education style will get students the real world experience needed to be successful. The school touts capstone project partnerships with Second City and GrubHub, among other local companies and productions.
"I've spent more than two decades working in the film industry; what makes Tribeca Flashpoint Colleges such a compelling institution is that it was created by the industry for the industry," said Peter Hawley, Flashpoint's academic dean in the release. "As our institution has evolved and expanded its offerings, we have maintained our commitment to industry-relevant, project-based education which is the hallmark of a Tribeca Flashpoint education."