UNM was granted $3 million for a new media arts lab, but the money only covers buildings and equipment.
UNM computer science professor Ed Angel said the money was granted in capital outlay and therefore cannot be legally used for anything other than facilities, land and major equipment.
The funds have been used to design and build the Art, Research, Technology and Science Lab, a 5,500 square-foot space, which will be on Central Avenue and University Boulevard.
Angel said lobbyists in Santa Fe are trying to get money from the state for faculty to teach students to use the high-tech equipment.
"There are three or four bills going on right now, but the one we care about most gives operational funds," he said.
Operational funds are used to either pay new instructors or retrain existing faculty, he said.
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Eric Whitmore, program coordinator of the Arts Technology Center, said the building will have a mini-dome arts space co-designed by LodeStar Astronomy Center and a black-box media experimental studio.
"With that space, it will be possible to experiment with sound and light, as well as work with blue and green screen technology since we will be doing animation," he said.
He said techniques such as the motion-capture system, which Pixar Animation Studios uses, will also be available.
"People will wear suits with sensors on the joints that will tell a computer where body parts are as they move," he said. "It's super cool."
Whitmore said funding for teaching these techniques doesn't exist, but the faculty is motivated to teach these project-based classes.
He said UNM's original proposal included money for operational funds, but the money they received was not a result of the University's proposal.
Angel said he was happy the project received funding period.
"We didn't think we were going to get this big a grant last year," he said. "Somehow it happened."
Angel said the lab is looking at two ways to get faculty to teach the new courses in the fall.
"We'll either get new faculty or move existing faculty into those positions," he said. "I think both of those things will be happening."
As more students become involved in the program and register for those classes, then more faculty members will be added, he said.
Jim Linnell, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the state's capital outlay helped spur the project forward, but this legislative session needs to produce funds for operation.
The money was allocated as part of Gov. Bill Richardson's Media Industries Strategy Projects.
"The Governor's plan has to include both the equipment and support for faculty," Linnell said, adding there is a lot of effort in Santa Fe to make that happen.
"The initiative is having an impact already," he said. "The funding is going to open up doors all across the board. It isn't over. It's a process."
Instuctor concerned about use of grant
Bryan Konefsky says the governor has stars in his eyes.
Konekfsky, an instructor in the Media Arts Department, said the money from the state is focused on training film crews and not on learning cinema as an art.
"People who know nothing about media arts are starting to take the wind out of our sails," he said, adding the talk of the upcoming media arts classes isn't taking into consideration that media arts has been taught at the University since the 1970s.
"If New Mexico is going to call itself an art center, we need to support cinema in an expanded sense as an art form," Konefsky said.
Jim Linnell, associate dean of the College of Fine Arts, said the $3 million grant the University received will support the Fine Arts Department in more ways than just the mainstream filmmaking aspect.
"The funding Richardson has given us has aided tremendously in designing degree plans," he said. "We are beginning the process of creating a new curriculum."
Linnell said the arts lab will provide links between a wide range of departments and faculty and will allow students from the science departments and arts departments to intermingle.
Konefsky said state grants for film are industry-based and don't make room for independent films.
"Every time I bring up experimental film, they laugh at me," he said. "Funding organizations need to give money to experimental films to support long-term cultural integrity."
He said even small grants of $500 or $1,000 would go a long way to support experimental film in New Mexico.
Linnell said the purpose of the grant is to create an art foundation, not to tell students what kind of art form to follow.
"The training includes film, but not exclusively," he said. "We did not say, 'you must pursue media in this way.' There is a wide array of directions in media."
Konefsky said the governor is thinking short-term of creating technical jobs for a big industry - Hollywood.
"Cinema as an art needs to be recognized, respected and funded," he said, adding that the media arts department members have already done great things with available resources.
"Too many people are trying to speak for us in the media arts department, but some just don't have the understanding of the complexity of moving things."
Konefsky said he is interested in seeing how this project pans out.
"I think $3 million will be wasted," he said. "I hope I am proven wrong."
