The School Media Arts and Studies offers many avenues for students to practice their skills. Independent and class projects, as well as faculty/client-based projects can be obtained through faculty members. Perhaps even more influential is the variety of organizations and opportunities for students to gain practical "real world" experience outside of the class room.
All Campus Radio Network ( ACRN )
Ranked one of the Top 5 college stations in the U.S. by the National Association of College Broadcasters, ACRN
is a commercially supported radio station operated entirely by students. The station operates online via Shoutcast server at ACRN.com. ACRN's format is primarily college rock, inspired primarily by the College Music Journal, to which ACRN subscribes.
From the executive staff to the disc jockeys, ACRN is staffed completely by students. The station gives students the unique opportunity to gain experience at a commercial radio station. Students learn every aspect of running a radio station, including the actual sale of airtime, production of commercials, engineering, promotion, on-air announcing, and much more. In addition, students have the opportunity to produce in-studios with bands, DJ live events, and plan dance parties and concerts on campus and around Athens.
ACRN encourages all Media Arts and Studies students to consider working for ACRN. Students can get involved in all aspects of ACRN: sales, programming, production, promotion, public relations, music, news/sports/entertainment, mobile, web design, and engineering. The opportunity for students to gain managerial experience at ACRN makes it a unique college radio station, and there is no better way to quickly get hands-on experience in a student organization than with the All-Campus Radio Network.
Audio Engineering Society ( AES )
The Audio Engineering Society (AES) is a student chapter open to anyone with an interest in audio production. Chapter activities include touring recording studios and audio manufacturing facilities, and attending regional and national conventions and equipment demonstrations. Each year a number of guest speakers from a variety of audio related fields address the chapter and conduct seminars on subjects ranging from the recording business to arts and technology to digital audio recording.
AVW Productions (AVW)
This student-run video production house provides experience in all aspects of production from management and advertising to the production process itself. Students learn techniques of field and studio operations while producing video for various outlets. The central mission of AVW Productions is production that is marketable to different regions of Ohio.
Programs include: award-winning "Friday's Live" - a half-hour entertainment show; award-winning "Sauti" - an African-American public affairs show; "Quiz Me" - a children's game show; football and basketball coaches' shows; and many others. AVW also produces coverage of Bobcat football and men's and women's basketball.
Students can gain multi-camera video production experience in studio and on location. There are also direction and management positions. Participation in AVW is open to any Ohio University student. Students may hold progressively more responsible production positions as they complete Telecommunications courses. AVW Productions is operated by undergraduate students under faculty and graduate student supervision.
Brick City Records
Brick City is Ohio University's student run record label. Brick City focuses on providing students real world experience in many aspects of the recording industry. This organization is unique because students can exercise control over areas such as: artist relations, booking, legal, production, promotion, scouting. Since its inception in 2002, Brick City has been involved in booking and promoting shows featuring local musicians of all genres. The label has also recorded, produced, and released albums. The members have the opportunity to work in Ohio University's state-of-the-art recording studio.
Friday's Live
Fridays Live is Ohio University's longest-running sketch comedy show! We started in 1985 and since then have had countless episodes and more than 40 seasons. We function like Saturday Night Live with an hour-long live show every other week that's made up of live and digital sketches, a host, and a musical guest, as well as a stand-up set before the show. We have many opportunities for students including writing, acting, videography, audio, editing, directing, art direction, and more!
National Broadcasting Society (NBS-AERho)
Founded in 1943, the National Broadcasting Society's focus is to provide a link between the academic and professional worlds of communication. Chapters are located at more than 120 college campuses and more than 30,000 current and future communicators have been listed as NBS-AERho members. Alpha Epsilon Rho is the professional business fraternity for broadcasting. NBS members have the opportunity to become AERho initiates after one year of active membership in NBS. Admission to NBS is open to anyone who is in a broadcasting-related major. NBS offers many benefits to its members including exposure to professionals in the industry, contacts with alumni, the chance to meet others in the same major, and special events such as speakers and trips to stations and production houses.
Ohio University Animation Club (OUAC)
The Ohio University Animation Club was founded in 2018. The OUAC focuses on developing and strengthening skills for OU students interested in the Animation field. Our passion is to learn new techniques in 2D and 3D animation that will prepare us further for opportunities in the field. Through animation projects, film festivals, portfolio reviews, networking, and social events we bring together passionate and determined individuals that want to better their animation knowledge and team skills for the industry
Ohio University Electronic Music Collective ( OUEMC )
The Ohio University Electronic Music Collective Developers Association is a group for enthusiasts, DJ's, and producers of all styles of electronic music. They hold weekly student-led meeting which include discussions on industry news, hosting live music events, providing hands-on tutorials for many different softwares (Logic, FL Studio, Traktor, Ableton, etc.), gear swaps, and project critiques. The group also releases a free sampler CD at the end of each semester of music that members have created during the semester. All prior releases can be found on their Bandcamp page .
Ohio University Game Developers Association (OUGDA)
The Ohio University Game Developers Association is a student chapter of the International Game Developers's Association. Founded in 2011, OUGDA is a professional networking club for OU students interested in the game development field. Through tutorials, game development challenges, and social activities, we bring together like minded students in order to better their skills and knowledge of the game development process and industry
Ohio University Immersive Media Association (OUIMA)
The Ohio University Immersive Media Association (OUIMA) is one of Ohio University’s newest campus organizations, founded in 2016. OUIMA explores state-of-the-art technologies such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, 360 Video Production, Motion Capture, and Lightfield Cameras, just to name a few. The group holds weekly meetings that explore the business aspects of immersive technologies and also provides workshops for those who wish to gain hands-on experience with these technologies that are unavailable anywhere else on campus. Not only do members get production experience, but they are also provided the opportunity to create their own projects so that they gain professional material to add to their portfolios upon graduating from Ohio University. Membership is open to all students of the university."
Rough Cut Collective
Rough Cut Collective is a film organization at Ohio University where students of any major can come together and focus on developing their creative ability as filmmakers. Anyone with an interest in film will learn about the production process and all of the critical thinking that goes into creating one. With the use of professional equipment, student resources, and professional techniques, we write, film, and edit all of our own original short-narrative videos.
Women In The Music Industry ( WIMI )
Women in the Music Industry (WIMI) focuses on aiding female Ohio University students who are interested in the music industry with professional growth and career insight. Through professional development workshops, social events, and mentoring sessions with female industry professionals from various fields, WIMI hopes to empower its members to succeed in their future careers.
WIMI holds bi-monthly meetings as well as additional mentoring sessions via Skype and continues to seek out strong and successful female professionals to inspire its members."
WOUB Public Media ( WOUB )
The WOUB Center for Public Media
operates the Public Broadcasting Services of Ohio University. These include WOUB-TV, WOUC-TV(Cambridge), WOUB-AM/FM, WOUC-FM, WOUL-FM, WOUH-FM, and ACTV-7, Ohio University's community cable channel. The Center is a non-academic unit of Ohio University. Well known for its quality training program, the Center offers experience in a wide range of areas in radio, television, educational telecommunications, engineering, promotion, and news.
Students interested in radio start in the training program as preparation for work in certain basic areas. Departments include traffic, continuity, and the feed center (the department that tapes programming to air at a later time on WOUB-AM/FM.) Once students have been "checked out" of the basic training programs, they can move on to other operations at the radio station, such as on-air announcing and production of radio programs.
Students interested in television start out with staging and lighting, the responsibilities of a floor manager, and studio and control room operations. Once students learn these basics, they can train in other areas such as camera operations, duty directing, on-air talent, or technical directing. Students who continue in the training program often move into advanced level positions such as television director, radio operation engineer, or stereo producer.
The Center offers experiences to students in areas that are not part of the formal training program. These include consumer affairs, graphic art, news, marketing, development, and photography.