(The Center Square) - New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is happy with two developments that she hopes will improve the state's film and media industry.
The governor broke ground on the new Creative Campus at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center on Tuesday. It will house the Las Cruces satellite campus of the New Mexico Media Academy, along with the new film and media educational facilities for Doña Ana Community College and NMSU.
The Creative Campus will have a 4,000-square-foot traditional soundstage, a volumetric stage, flex classrooms, and classrooms for graphic and web design, virtual reality, animation, and cinematography.
Bolstering the New Mexico Media Academy is a policy priority for Lujan Grisham. She thinks film and television production will add high-paying jobs to the state's economy.
“The Las Cruces satellite campus of the New Mexico Media Academy exemplifies the collaboration that continues to grow the film and television industry in communities all across the state Lujan Grisham said in a press release. “The partnership between the booming industry and New Mexico’s tuition-free higher education will foster that growth and support the impressive field of top-notch production companies and media programs right here in Las Cruces.”
In 2022, the governor secured $40 million in funding to create the NMMA and its satellite campus in Las Cruces.
The following day, the governor announced that the downtown Albuquerque Rail Yards will serve as the new headquarters for the New Mexico Media Academy. It is a "collaborative workforce development initiative that will equip New Mexico residents with the advanced skills they need to work in the film and television industry," according to a press release.
The governor hopes the academy will meet the demand for media professionals in New Mexico.
“State and city partnerships like these are how we create transformative change for New Mexicans,” Lujan Grisham said. “Our students will be trained by the best-in-the-industry on state-of-the-art technology to further cultivate the modern film and digital media workforce we are building in New Mexico.”
In the past two fiscal years, film production spending has generated a combined $1.5 billion in direct spending into the state's economy, with most of the money coming from out of state.
The Boiler Room location of the railyards will be the location of NMMA. Once completed, NMMA will offer "industry-standard, hands-on, and craft-specific workforce training and job competencies for the film, television, and digital media industry, including emerging focus areas such as virtual and extended reality and volumetric production," according to the release.
The goal of the academy will be to admit 1,000 students each. New Mexico Film Partners, including Netflix, NBCUniversal and 828 Productions, plan to collaborate with the academy by offering paid apprenticeships to students.
New Mexico's film industry supports about 8,000 jobs statewide; the median wage of those workers is $32 an hour.
