The University of Hawaiʻi West Oʻahu held an official grand opening on Friday for its state-of-the-art Academy for Creative Media facility.
The $37 million building features a 100-seat screening room and mixing stage, an esports arena, post-production suites and a media lab.
Officials say the goal is to help prepare students interested in the motion picture industry. That includes careers in video production, social media and digital content creation.
Chris Lee, founder and director of UH’s Academy for Creative Media System, said he’s excited to see students learn and grow.
“It’s for them. It’s for their future. It’s fantastic,” he said. “We have everything as good or better than USC or any other school in the mainland, so no one has to go to the mainland anymore to find these kinds of facilities.”
The bachelor of arts in creative media degree is one of UH West Oʻahu’s fastest growing programs.
The building opened to students last year. But officials say they weren’t able to hold an in-person grand opening ceremony due to the pandemic.
Gov. David Ige said he sees the center helping local kids chase their “digital dreams.”
“It will help develop 21st century jobs for a global marketplace and serve as a cutting edge platform for our people to tell our stories,” he said. “We’re done with someone else telling the stories of Hawaiʻi and all of this diversity that we know.”
