Programs incorporate business courses and work experience
Nossi College of Art – which is introducing two new bachelor degrees – is giving its students an “All Access” pass to the creative class that is fueling the phenomenal economic growth Nashville.
This fall, the Nashville professional art education institution is adding a Bachelors of Commercial Photography and Bachelors of Commercial Video and Film to its degree offerings. Designed to prepare students to immediately begin work in the creative community, the new degree programs add two unique components not usually part of an arts degree: business courses and the college’s “All Access” program through which students create work used by such organizations as the Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville Fashion Week, the CMA Fest and the Nashville Symphony.
“Nashville’s creative class is booming,” said Libby Funke Luff, Nossi’s director of student activities and marketing. “For example, Richard Florida, author of ‘Rise of the Creative Class,’ wrote a few years ago that the concentration here of talent in the music industry is literally off the chart. And I mean literally – Nashville’s results were more than twice the width of a Florida’s bar chart. And according to the Creative Vitality Index, we are the fourth most creative city in the county, behind only New York, LA and Washington, DC.
“We created these two new bachelor degree programs to keep up with the growing demand for trained creative professionals, both in Nashville and nationwide. Including business courses in the degree curriculum helps assure that students are ready to set up their own freelance practice after graduating. And our ‘All Access’ program assures that they have a solid portfolio of real work – not just class projects or internship experience – to demonstrate their abilities,” she added. “Thanks, in part, to this real world experience, the 2013 graduating class had a 95 percent job placement rate, with 85 percent of those jobs in the creative field.”
Nick Palladino, president of creative content company, Moo Creative, which is seeing a strong upsurge in its business, echoed Luff’s comments concerning the importance of business savvy and hands-on experience in the creative industry.
“We look for talented people who know how to get things done, not just have great ideas,” he said. “While a strong imagination and the ability to visualize new concepts is certainly imperative to our business, none of that matters if you don’t deliver the results on time and in budget. These new degree programs from Nossi are definitely on the right track.”
Nossi previously offered a Bachelor of Photography and Video and Film. The separation of the two fields into two individual degrees will allow a more focused education, with course requirements designed to help students meet current industry needs as expressed by industry leaders. Class offerings like motion graphics, web design and script writing are unique to Nossi’s Video and Film degree program and ensure that students transition seamlessly from the classroom to the real world. Like all classes at Nossi, the new degree programs will be taught by industry leaders currently working in the field.
In addition to photography and Video and Film, Nossi also offers commercial degrees in illustration, interactive design and graphic design. Want to learn more? Discover Nossi’s Degree Programs and Become a Community Partner.