Austin, Texas
The Greater Austin metropolitan statistical area had a gross domestic product (GDP) of $86 billion in 2010. Austin is considered to be a major center for high tech. Thousands of graduates each year from the engineering and computer science programs at the University of Texas at Austin provide a steady source of employees that help to fuel Austin's technology and defense industry sectors. The region's rapid growth has led "Forbes" to rank the Austin metropolitan area number one among all big cities for jobs for 2012 in their annual survey and WSJ Marketwatch to rank the area number one for growing businesses. By 2013, Austin was ranked No. 14 on "Forbes"' list of the Best Places for Business and Careers (directly below Dallas, No. 13 on the list). As a result of the high concentration of high-tech companies in the region, Austin was strongly affected by the dot-com boom in the late 1990s and subsequent bust. Austin's largest employers include the Austin Independent School District, the City of Austin, Dell, the U.S. Federal Government, NXP Semiconductors, IBM, St. David's Healthcare Partnership, Seton Family of Hospitals, the State of Texas, the Texas State University, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Austin School of Film
The Austin School of Film, also known as The Austin School of Film @ Motion Media Arts Center, is an art, film and technology institute through non-profit, Motion Media Arts Center and is located on Tillery Street in Austin, Texas. The Austin School of Film began its start in 2002 under the non-profit umbrella name of Motion Media Arts Center and by merging of the Austin Cinemaker Co-op (founded 1996) and the Center for Young Cinema (founded 1999). The goal of the school is to educate, train, and develop emerging artists of all ages to be active participants in shaping our culture. The organization's program spans the entire spectrum of art, film and tech offering a range of classes from filmmaking, coding, web and graphic design, animation, digital media arts production to software training and Apple certification. They also offer certificate programs such as Digital Video Certificate Program, to help students develop technical skills in production and post-production and complete a series of courses to develop a filmmaking knowledge base.