A Visit to Ringling College of Art + Design
Ringling College of Art + Design has one of the top five computer animation programs in the country. BUT, besides animation, Ringling offers 13 majors in both traditional fine arts, film and some new, innovative majors which might interest you.
Business of Art and Design (BA) focuses on entrepreneurship, brand strategy and marketing, and producing and production management, allowing students to develop skills to bring creative projects to life. Because this major is within an art school, students are able to collaborate with artists to help produce films, games, animations, events in conjunction with the work being done by students in these majors.
Computer Animation (BFA) is Ringling’s most competitive major and is their only major where you must apply into it specifically as a freshman. Students are able to transfer out of computer animation, and many do into motion design, but they are not able to transfer in to this major. When visiting the animation facilities the walls are lined with posters and the names of student and faculty who have worked on them, it is clear that graduates from this program are quite sought after in the industry.
Entertainment Design (BFA) is one of their newest majors and focuses on giving students the skills to bring physical, built environments to life. Students in this major develop concepts for themed environments including theme parks and resorts, cultural destinations and themed retail and dining.
Motion Design (BFA) brings together animation, film and sound, basically to make and tell stories designed for any type of screen. This major is designed for animation students who want to broaden their horizons to include stop motion and sound.
The facilities at Ringling are world class, all equipment is new and updated regularly, the film studio houses two large and three smaller black box sound stages as well as a world class post production facility, Studio Lab. Ringling is a walkable campus with almost all buildings a five minute walk from each other with on campus housing (and a soon to be renovated dorm) as well as a brand new dining center. For fun students are about 15 minutes from the amazing Florida gulf shore beaches of Sarasota.
