FROM NEW YORK CITY TO A CITY NEAR YOU.... BRAVO, THE FILM AND ARTS NETWORK, PRESENTS "PROJECT DISCOVERY: THE FIRST FILM SCHOOL IN CYBERSPACE" THIS JULY 25 Program to Chronicle the Groundbreaking Interactive Internet Film Class that Began a New Era of Learning

download a copy of BRAVO's Press Release

What happens when you put multi-media giants Lucent Technologies/Bell Labs, MediaOne and Project Discovery (a non-profit, distance learning organization) to the task of educating students across the country? The result becomes a live, interactive television screen writing class with instruction from New York City to high school students in Jacksonville, Fl. This Saturday, July 25 at 8:30 PM/ET. Bravo, The Film and Arts Network will air PROJECT DISCOVERY: The First Film School in Cyberspace, A special premiere program in which viewers can see the results of this amazing combination of technology and academic excellence, as well as learning how to initiate a program of this nature in their area.

Project Discovery is an original and stimulating Internet-interactive distance learning course in professional film and television production. Each of the two phases consists of a ten-week, tuition-free, extracurricular summer course of virtual classes, interactively taught over the Internet using Lucent Technologies' Montage (a multipoint digital video-conferencing system). Jacksonville inaugurated this adventure in education with 23 students who received instruction over an Internet link from Janet Neipris, Chair of the Dramatic Writing Department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Neipris shares her initial feelings towards the project with Bravo: "People were worried about how the technology Would interfere with the teaching aspect -- how could you be in New York and teach kids in Florida? From the very first ten minutes, I forgot I was in a studio. For me I was in the classroom...I really was there with them."

Bravo shows how the students, who otherwise would not have access to this kind of education benefited tremendously from the technologies made available to them. Student Andrew Chowske sums it up by saying "Project Discovery allowed me to not be afraid of my ideas. It is now much easier for me to let people know about my ideas."

According to John A. McQuiggan, Executive Producer and co-creator of Project Discovery: "The opportunity to take advantage of this extraordinary technology in order to bring professional instruction to high school students, who would not otherwise have access to this film curriculum, proved most rewarding for all concerned."

The success of Project Discovery has opened people's minds to a new world of educational opportunities. Daniel Rosenbloom, Producer and co-creator of Project Discovery feels that: "Traditionally, we've seen education that takes place in the classroom. It's a room with four walls and a teacher. What Project Discovery showed me is that education is an environment, it's not a place. It is what happens between the teacher and the students."

Bravo, The Film and Arts Network, offers critically acclaimed American and international films as well as performing arts, including dance, theater, classical music and jazz. Bravo is available to over 33 million homes nationwide.

---