MAD Winter Showcase to exhibit at Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27

Santa Barbara, Calif. – (January 21, 2010) – Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27 presents the Multimedia Arts and Design Academy (MAD) of Santa Barbara High School’s Winter Showcase. This Winter Showcase will feature work from the MAD Fall 2009 classes in design, flash animation and video production. This unique exhibit will premiere during the Santa Barbara Downtown Organization’s 1st Thursday Art Walk and will be on exhibit from Feb. 4 – Feb 16, 2010 with an artist reception from 5 – 8 p.m. on Feb. 4. Brooks Institute’s Gallery 27 is located at 27 E. Cota St. in downtown Santa Barbara. Also on display will be a selection of images in tribute to a former Brooks Institute faculty member Vern Miller who passed away in April 2009. A silent auction will be held at this time to benefit a Brooks Institute scholarship in his name.

The Multimedia Arts and Design Academy (MAD) of Santa Barbara High School offers students an academically integrated, career-oriented opportunity to learn, create, explore, and train in the growing field of media arts and technology. Anchored in the traditional arts, the MAD academy features introductory and advanced courses in a technologically-based "school within a school" setting. Key elements of the MAD academy include its small size - approximately 150 students from grades 10 to 12 - and its active partnership with Santa Barbara City College. It combines elements of studio art, graphic design, animation, photography, digital imaging, and video.

One interesting aspect of the academy is the annual community service house-building trip to Mexico or Arizona. According to Academy Director Dan Williams, “The house-building trip to Mexico confronts student apathy by putting them in the midst of a problem, giving them the necessary tools and allowing them to meet the immediate, basic needs of others. The confidence and inner peace derived from this experience has been life changing for many of our students and their parents alike.”

Also on display will be images of former Brooks Institute faculty member Vern Miller who passed away in April of 2009. Vern Miller was a prominent documentary photographer and led the industrial/scientific photography program at Brooks Institute. In the early 1980’s, his efforts brought the documenting of the Shroud of Turin to Brooks Institute. Along with this display will be a silent auction of images donated by our faculty and alumni to benefit a Brooks Institute student scholarship in his name.

About Brooks Institute
Brooks Institute celebrates 64 years of educating students in the visual and media arts. With campuses in Santa Barbara and Ventura, California, the school offers Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees in fields including Professional Photography, Film and Graphic Design; a Bachelor of Science degree in Visual Journalism; and Master of Fine Arts degrees in Photography and Screenwriting. Brooks Institute graduates are visible nationally and internationally, working for distinguished organizations including National Geographic, Smithsonian, Los Angeles Times and other national media outlets, including Hallmark Publishing, Cousteau Society, HBO, Kodak and other industry leaders in the visual media arts fields. Brooks Institute cannot guarantee employment or salary. Brooks is part of the Career Education Corporation network of schools (NASDAQ: CECO). For more information about Brooks Institute and the school’s programs, visit www.brooks.edu, or call 805-966-3888.