New UCLA TFT Dean Celine Parreñas Shimizu stands for challenges frontal

The new dean of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television, Celine Parreñas Shimizu, is confronted with many questions and a difficult time for universities in the US.

The rise of AI, cutbacks in schools, a hostile presidential administration and cutbacks in the entertainment industry make this a precarious time for educators.

“It is an unfortunate time in history when higher education is experiencing to be on the cross of attacks and the undermining of our mission. For me there is no larger place on earth than the class. It is where we create strongly critical and analytical citizens, and where our students are not alone,” she says that they are not well equipped for challenges and change.

Parreñas Shimizu, who is a UCLA -Alumna, started her new role on July 1. She comes to Westwood via UC Santa Cruz, where she served as a dean of the Division of Arts and Professor was in the Film and Digital Media department. At UCSC she supervised the launch of the first online bachelor’s degree in the UC system and the construction of various facilities, including a media bundle, an art and AI -Lab and graduated student -art studios. She is also a scholar and has written extensively about race, gender and representation, including various books, and has also worked on documentaries and narrative films.

She is planning to share her vision of the school on 25 September on a special conclave with “all our alumni, all our students, our families, our industrial friends, our independent non -profit community friends,” she says, and notes that she also contacts the same stakeholders and collecting their input and ideas.

Parreñas Shimizu does not shy away from the topics of inclusion and diversity.

“It is really a shame that the university’s company was incorrectly presented as indoctrination instead of discovery. So if I return to the UCLA theater, film and television [school]It is a space that I four, that I protect, that I defend, and I am in full awe and reverence because the students come out of those classrooms confidently and therefore less difficult to mess in terms of how they want to contribute to the world, “she says.” Fortunately we have a chancellor who has a pulpit for courageous courage and that has to protect in my own generations. “

But there is also the practical side of the University-post university employment. Parreñas Shimizu notes that while the entertainment landscape contracts, which, together with “with” with ice rays in LA “” cause a lot of fear and fear among our students. “

“I have always focused on a leader on improving professional development, bringing in more alumni mentors and creating really clear paths so that they can deal with the industry even while they are at school,” she says, adding that her students are paid for internships and other programs “don’t really give up the tablets and do not work on those carpets and do not work that and do not work and do the internships and do not work and do not work and do not play the Taage. give. “

She notes that they ‘revitalize’ a television studio and are looking for industrial partners to upgrade soundstages and other facilities. She has already started her studio outreach and also has plans to meet next month with leaders of Silicon Valley. And of course AI is on that agenda.

“Our students cannot be stopped, but they need computers animals that are able to do that work. And our approach to AI is not one of fear. It is a matter of saying:” How can we use these new technologies to help us create virtual worlds and very real worlds on stage? ” So we not only need the equipment, but we also need our employees from the School of TFT and the staff of the largest technology companies to come together and say: “How do we ensure that these different AI tools can be in the hands of the next generations of makers?” So there is a lot of marriage and the solving that can be done, so that we help this industry and technology ahead with higher ED.

That conversation includes students and teachers and leaders from other UCLA schools, including computer science and engineering. Parreñas Shimizu points to ‘Xanadu’, a theatrical production that used bow and 360-degree video, CGI 3D models and an advanced projection and sound system in May.

“While I was in my previous institution, I founded a center that is called an A4 laboratory,” she notes. The Arts, AI, Augmentation and Acceleration Lab is a partnership with worldwide technology company AMD and the doctor at UC Santa Cruz in which AMD donated six high-performance computers, equipped with the latest AMD-graphic processing units for the plenty of processing, 3D models and animation. She is working on replying that technical educational partner in Westwood, as well as “fundraising to reflect our innovation work in new and contemporary technologies,” she says, while she also wants to collaborate with industry and independent studios and backlots to support the creative and impactful work of our facultitit and students.

But above all, the enthusiasm of Parreñas Shimizu for education and the various university community can be felt by the zoom call – she thinks joy in helping her students to help art and change in the world, proudly characterize UCLA as a “filthy” hunter and the “author school”.

“You know that the much needed work of real serving of our communities in Los Angeles and beyond has now been criminalized somewhat,” she says, respond to a question about diversity and inclusion. ‘[Those words] They become dirty words if there is nothing but joy and happiness that comes from being in a room where everyone is present. Because when everyone is present, when more different voices are represented, the better the solutions are, the greater the art is. “

“We are so lucky that UCLA TFT has defended a worldwide curriculum from the start. One of my favorite words is ‘decolonized’. What I like about that word is that it is essentially that you freed your mind by learning more about others.”

The various student body remains important

“So you know, I think of our first genes -students who now feel terrorized with the ice attacks, the fear is real. The fear is really, and this is the place where we give them confidence, and that will never stop … we don’t need artists in this world to strengthen our strength. The world is not really what we put on the table.

“And it is a real model for what we need in the world today, whether it is industry or community -oriented filmmaking and making theater.”