>>> Read last week's blog about Production-in-Action for background.

Ella Delaney is the Faculty Leader for the No Kid Hungry Campaign.

Participating in Production-In-Action is a rich and amazing experience for students and faculty alike. It's an opportunity for us to work with others from all disciplines, guiding each team toward completion of a large-scale, professional media event. More than any other class, PIA rewards individual initiative and creative risk-taking. The project differs each time, so reliance on routine operating procedures is not an option. Faculty and students alike must employ all of those core skills we talk endlessly about at TFA: problem solving, communication, collaboration, accountability, initiative, and flexibility.

This PIA is a special one, because teams are being tasked with designing a media campaign for one of five charitable organizations. Our team's organization, Share Our Strength, is committed to ending childhood hunger by 2015 with its campaign No Kid Hungry. Students were given several deliverables: first, they must create a unifying theme, then design a social media campaign, a video game, a public service announcement, and a live event to raise awareness—and funding—for their cause.

Our team used the theme "Make Hunger Visible" as the connective tissue for a recipe-shopping video game; several live events, including a cooking demonstration for a group of youth participants; some incredibly eloquent PSAs; a social media campaign that employed Tumblr blogs, Twitter feeds, and Facebook posts; and the use of a new online social fundraising tool called Crowdrise to engage a community of charitable givers.

I'm consistently blown away by the creativity, talent, and professionalism of students here, but this PIA transcends others by bringing to the fore our students' commitment to make a difference in the world. So many art schools focus on teaching students to explore themselves as a gateway to connecting with their inner muse. This PIA takes exactly the opposite approach.

By helping students connect with something larger than themselves and calling upon their creativity to raise awareness for issues like childhood hunger, our teams' creativity has unleashed a profoundly transformative force.

Students will present their Production-In-Action projects to a panel of three judges, including Sheila Roche of (RED), Jonny Immerman of Immerman Angels, and TFA Academic Dean Paula Froehle.

To make a donation to team Share Our Strength, please visit their fundraising team page.

This blog was crossposted from the TFA.edu blog.

For more about Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, including information on our two-year Associate Degree programs in Film & Broadcast, Recording Arts, Game & Interactive Media, or Animation & Visual Effects, please visit www.tribecaflashpoint.com.