News Release

KRV Campus

College Offers New Digital Cinematography Class This Summer

Kern River Valley, CA – June 1, 2006

The Cerro Coso Community College Kern River Valley Campus in Lake Isabella is offering a new and exciting class this summer in Digital Cinematography. This class will be the first of a series of classes that will be offered. This eight-week, 4-unit summer course starts June 12th and is a wonderful opportunity to become a part of a "Wild West Country" historical documentary film project with Chuck Barbee.

Kern Valley resident Chuck Barbee is pleased to announce that production has begun in earnest on a documentary television series based on Bob Powers' nine wonderful books about the history of the Kern River Valley and surrounding southern Sierra region. Private grant funding for the project has recently been committed and will be administered through the Kern River Valley Educational and Cultural Foundation. Barbee and his co-producing partner Michael Gallagher will now work full-time on the project for the next 12 to 15 months. Final form of the project will be a series of 1/2 hour to 1-hour documentaries. The potential for a PBS or cable network sale of the finished series exists, but the shows definitely will be made available directly to the public on DVD.

With the documentary project as a catalyst, the Educational and Cultural Foundation was able to engineer the opening of a Digital Media Production Center in Isabella. This state-of-the-art educational and commercial facility will be utilized by Cerro Coso Community College Media Arts Department as a Center of Excellence. It will be the focal point of a two-year-degree pilot project to offer Media Arts Classes at the Kern River Valley Campus. This will include classes in hi-tech 3D animation, web design, game design, etc., and will be under the direction of valley resident and Cerro Coso Instructor and Department Chair, Jim Kiggens.

Utilizing this Lake Isabella facility with the Wild West Country project as a vehicle, Barbee will begin teaching Digital Cinematography, in an eight-week summer course starting June 12th. This is all part of the Foundation's plan to develop a permanent campus here for higher education in skills that have meaning and offer employment opportunities for the people of the Kern River Valley. It is also in keeping with their desire to encourage and develop entrepreneurial, home-based and non-polluting businesses in the valley.

Anyone interested in being a part of Barbee's class and a part of the effort to put Mr. Powers' amazing work into documentary form should contact Cerro Coso Community College today at (760) 379-5501 and register for MA C168 – Digital Cinematography. You may also register on-line at http://www.cerrocoso.edu/coyoteconnection/.

For more information, contact the Cerro Coso Community College office at (760) 379-5501 or contact Chuck Barbee or Mike Gallagher at (760) 376-8784. Don't delay; summer classes start June 12, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:
Joann Handeland, Director of Facilities Development and Public Information (760) 384-6230