What is the qualification?
Run by SCAD (Savannah College of Art and Design), the themed entertainment design degree programme is a two-year Master of Fine Arts programme, which started in September 2012.

Experienced professionals teach students the skills needed to enter the industry as designers and artists, with a profound understanding of the breadth of the industry and the requirements needed to be a part of it. The curriculum combines the modelling strategies of architecture and electronic design with the problem-solving approaches of industrial design and production design.

A primary function in the industry is telling a story and creating a compelling environment and that’s what the students will focus on.

Who takes the course?
Students have a broad range of backgrounds and a variety of skill sets – such as interior designer, architect, animator, illustrator, industrial designer and a motion media artist. They work together to create a single project, which is how they’ll work in the field.

One of the factors that made this course possible is the diversity within SCAD, which has 40 different art and design majors. That enables students to work collaboratively with the same, and often better, resources than there are out in the field.

What makes the course different?
SCAD is one of the first colleges to recognise the uniqueness of themed entertainment and the skill sets necessary, so students will have an advantage over those from other institutions that don’t have the same kind of focus.

There are more electives than other MFA programmes and there’s a great deal of collaboration with other disciplines within the arts. Themed entertainment is an extremely broad field that incorporates engineering, industrial design, interior design, production design and many other areas.

The students are encouraged to focus six electives into a single area and have a sub discipline. For example, one student has a particular group of classes that combine vehicle design with themed entertainment design so she can become a ride designer.

What were the challenges?
There are very strict guidelines for accreditation when starting a new degree programme, so there’s a lot of scrutiny as this hasn’t been done before. And quite rightly so – this is an education we’re providing, so it needs to be fully vetted. There was a great deal of paperwork and research and studies done to explain the importance of the programme and viability to the industry and why it should be a separate major.

How did you get involved?
I’ve been creative director at Universal and Disney, but I also taught at California Arts, so always kept tabs on various art schools around the country.

I moved to Savannah when working on Dubailand for Universal and met up with George two years ago. He told me about the course and it sounded terrific.

How do you work together?
We split the load. George has been emphasising the project management side and I’m on the creative side. But we collaborate and team tag, so students get different points of view.

Which classes do you teach?
I teach four classes on the design and creative side and the story components. Both George and I deal very heavily with story components, from queue lines to attractions. I also teach second year undergraduate scene designers, because that’s my background.

How do you use your experience?
A lot of it is ensuring students absorb information that they need to remember about how they present their work, themselves and their ideas – that’s all learnt behaviour.

And I explain what they’re going to see in the real world, in terms of team dynamics and thought processes. It’s great when students do internships and realise the information we’re giving them is valuable and valid.

The strongest piece of advice I give students is that they have to be at the top of their form. And to keep happy. My eternal mantra is: “It’s ok.”

How can operators get involved?
The opportunity to take interns is there, plus SCAD does sponsored projects, where companies bring real projects, assignments and issues. They financially back a class or an assignment and the school works with their creative directors to develop work.

SCAD isn’t a cheap design studio, but is a kind of research and development organisation where the students explore ideas that the company may not have time to do or is looking for fresh ideas and a younger perspective.

How will the course be developed?
I think the students will do that. When they enter the industry, they’ll bring new insights, ways of communicating and ways of experiencing stories.

As long as we can ground our students in the core principles of story telling and revealing the story to the guests, the mechanics, physics and nuances will change and grow.

How did you get involved with SCAD?
I retired from Walt Disney Imagineering (WDI), after 30 years, in 2009. At WDI I trained new employees, so teaching seemed to be a natural transition.

Peter Weishar asked if I’d like to teach at SCAD and get involved with setting up the themed entertainment degree programme. My wife and I thought it sounded like a great adventure, so we moved to Savannah.

What are the classes?
The first class that students take is an overview of the themed entertainment industry. It explains the breadth of what’s out there and the diversity within the field. The other compulsory classes are architecture, electronic design and production design, with industrial design as an optional class.

SCAD also offers an under-graduate programme. Students can take a collection of six to eight specialist classes during their own four-year course.

How did you choose the course content?
It needs to be as close as possible to experiences in the industry – every project that Mike and I set is based on an actual job we did.

There’s a phase of history and theory in some of the early classes, then we move on to storytelling, storyboarding and analysing the stories that are in existing attractions. The more advanced courses start to develop attractions and more elaborate design criteria.

How are classes taught?
Most of the classes are design classes, which are held in a studio setting. The classes deal with design concepts rather than the construction of sets.

We have a concept design studio for blue sky projects, a large project design studio, a collaborative design studio and a component design studio where students work on smaller components of a themed experience, such as the integration of the theming of a small area within a larger venue.

SCAD collaborates with themed entertainment companies that come into campus and we do field trips.

In collaboration with WDI, students go on location for a week. Every day they’re in the parks for a few hours before they open, walking the lines with the engineers, designers and maintenance people and discussing the mechanics, design and aesthetics. In the afternoon they have lectures from different imagineers.

Which classes do you teach?
I do a basic introduction to theatre and production design, followed by drafting for production design and then more advanced classes including concept and collaboration and production design portfolios. There are also field trips or specific projects, such as working with the theatre department for a production.

What are your teaching methods?
There are survey classes where students study the history and theory of how themed entertainment has evolved over time, but most important are the studio classes where students are doing actual projects, either in a team or as individuals. They’re given design criteria for an attraction or a merchandise shop and have to develop a storyline, which is the most important part of the design.

How do you promote the course?
We attend industry events, such as the SATE conference and the THEA and SEA Awards and conventions including The United States Institute for Theatre Technology, The Southeastern Theatre Conference and IAAPA.

We recently sent students to the Architectural Lighting convention and they were very well received, as the sector seems to be looking for more theatrically trained lighting designers. Going to these types of events leads to both promotion of the course and job placements for students.

How will the course be developed?
I’d like to see an even broader mix of people taking the course, with film students or visual effects students bringing their base comments to the mix and learning how those skills are applied in themed entertainment.