The University of South Florida has received roughly $500,000 worth of technology from one Tampa Bay studio.
Diamond View Studios and its sister company Vū Technologies donated roughly $500,000 worth of state-of-the-art virtual production technology and camera equipment to the USF Foundation Wednesday. The in-kind donation will go to the College of Arts and Sciences, supporting virtual production training and education in the Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications.
"This generous gift from Diamond View Studios has given new life to our video production programs, allowing our students to gain hands-on experience with cutting-edge technology and graduate with the skills needed to contribute immediately to this field,” USF Interim President Rhea Law said in a statement.
The technology will outfit the university's current production studio, now renamed Vu Studio, with a 40-foot LED wall. In addition to the technology, the company gave $39,000 to create the inaugural Diamond View teaching fellow. Ryan Watson, a full-time instructor in the Zimmerman School of Advertising & Mass Communications, was tapped for the position and will help design the curriculum around the new equipment.
“This gift and our affiliation with Diamond View will help develop a talent pipeline of graduates with the expertise and skills needed to support the growing multimedia production community in Tampa," Zimmerman School Director Kathy Fitzpatrick said in a statement.
Diamond View has upped its commitment to local universities in the last year, first partnering with the University of Tampa in February and later telling the Tampa Bay Business Journal it was in talks with USF.
“Virtual production is a major paradigm shift in the video industry that will create millions of new technology jobs over the next several years," Tim Moore, Diamond View CEO and co-founder, said in a statement.
He added Vu studios has committed to donating $5 million to state universities and colleges over the next three years to further virtual production training programs.
