Filmmaker Steven Spielberg has joined the Board of Directors of the Jacob Burns Film Center in Westchester County, New York, to help promote children’s education programs.
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Spielberg has joined the Board of Directors of the Jacob Burns Film Center (JBFC) in Pleasantville, a nonprofit center that offers independent film screenings along with 21st-century education.
JBFC’s goal for the past decade has been to equip children to succeed in our digitally and globally connected world, says Stephen Apkon, founder and executive director. “It is very gratifying that Steven Spielberg not only recognizes the importance of our work but wants to join us in redefining literacy in America,” Apkon adds.
“I have not heard of anything like the Jacob Burns Film Center happening anywhere else in the world,” says Spielberg. “What makes the JBFC different from every other well-intentioned organization that brings community and film together is its educational outreach to under-resourced schools. They reach so deeply into the community to give kids a chance to find themselves early on and before it’s too late, because that’s all the kids really want. I am thrilled to be on the Board and look forward to the work we will do together.”
Spielberg and the rest of the JBFC Board of Directors are committed to the expansion of the Center’s innovative education programs, which have reached more than 75,000 students in the region. JBFC programs teach students to communicate with visual and aural media while learning the skills of collaboration, innovation, problem solving, cross cultural understanding, and risk taking.
To learn more about the Jacob Burns Film Center and Media Arts Lab, visit www.burnsfilmcenter.org.
