| Boston University and FableVision Announce Formation of New Children’s Educational Programming & Technology Collaboration “Lia” will be first venture in partnership between BU’s Photonics Center, College of Communication and FableVision BOSTON, MA.- Boston University and Boston-based children’s media firm FableVision have announced the formation of a major venture to use broadcast media and multimedia to get young people, especially girls and minorities, interested in science and technology and inspire them to pursue educational and career opportunities in these fields. The Photonics Center at Boston University, an eighty-five million dollar facility focused on the development and commercialization of light-based technologies, and Boston University’s College of Communication will spearhead this effort.
Both organizations are working together to produce broadcast programming, classroom products (including traditional and interactive,) an educational web site, and associated products that leverage advanced new technologies. Both Boston University and FableVision will also work together to select strategic financing and distribution partners for an extensive line up of broadcast programming and associated products. “Too many girls dismiss science as a future career – and we’re out to change that by offering a media product that combines education with the excitement and draw of an entertainment package,” says Garland Waller, faculty member at the College of Communication and co-developer of Lia. “The shortage of science-directed careers is a pending crisis in the U.S. and a key trigger of economic growth if we can help provide an effective solution.” explains Leigh Hallisey, Marketing and Communications Manager at the Photonics Center and Lia co-developer. According to a study by the National Academy of Engineering, a substantially lower proportion of US undergraduates are going into science and technology-related fields compared to our international competitors, which will leave the U.S. in a seriously disadvantaged position in the world market. Women and minorities especially are an untapped resource in the areas of scientific studies, research and careers. FableVision’s President Paul Reynolds observes, ”FableVision’s mission is to reach all learners using media, storytelling and technology – this collaboration with BU expands that mission in significant ways.” FableVision has garnered an international reputation in publishing, broadcast and education for its “stories that matter, stories that move.”
Innovating traditional creative development is also key to BU’s Leigh Hallisey. Hallisey notes, “We’re also literally reinventing the traditional concept of merchandising that drives a lot of entertainment properties.” She explains, “The compelling part of the Lia cross-media plan includes products that are at the forefront of photonics technologies, which means the digital talking backpack or the pair of “chameleon” jeans that change color in the series could be available on the shelves at Target.” The Lia team is already working with materials and product innovators to create intelligent merchandising tie-ins that allow the Lia experience to extend beyond the television screen. “We are pulling together the best of all the media worlds in order to help kids achieve in science and technology, something that no one else is doing” says Garland Waller. “The model of Sesame Street, where Harvard and Children’s Television Workshop worked together to teach kids to read is the closest parallel. We’re taking creative programming concepts and packaging them with knockout educational opportunities.” The Lia property will be the first of several “edutainment” properties to be spun out of the Boston University-FableVision collaboration. About The Photonics Center at Boston University The Photonics Center at Boston University brings together business leaders, entrepreneurs, students and technologists from around the world in support of evolving photonics technologies. The interaction between students, technologists and industry professionals provides an open forum for the advancement of new technologies in such diverse areas as telecommunications, entertainment, medicine, and instrumentation. The Center’s $85 M, 235,000 net square feet facility opened in June of 1997 and is specially designed for the development of technologies and products. The facility houses 20 fully permitted laboratories, $30 million in high-tech equipment, and hosts a full-time staff that includes management, business development, engineering, technical, marketing, financial and administrative personnel. The Center’s Business Incubator/Accelerator provides an entrepreneurial environment which accelerates start-up companies’ time-to-market and increases their probability of success. To date, the Photonics Center has started and/or accelerated 17 companies that have collectively raised close to $200 million in outside venture capital or angel financing. About the College of Communication The television program in Boston University’s College of Communication prepares students for careers in production, management, teaching, or criticism. In curricula designed to provide hands-on experience in production facilities such as state-of-the-art television studios and digital editing suites or through management internships designed in conjunction with the University’s Graduate School of Management, students develop skills and acquire experience in many facets of today’s telecommunications industry. Faculty in the program conduct research and teach in areas such as screenwriting, documentary writing and production, and the effects of television on culture and society. The College of Communication includes programs in journalism, film and television, mass communications, advertising, and public relations. It is one of 17 schools and colleges that make up Boston University, the fourth largest independent university in the United States. About FableVision For the last two decades identical twin brothers Peter and Paul Reynolds have made their mark in traditional media and technology-delivered learning for children and adults. The pair founded award-winning children’s media company FableVision in 1996. FableVision’s mission is to use media, storytelling and technology to reach, support and inspire ALL learners has led to partnerships and co-development relationships with a wide range of museums, publishers, and broadcasters, including CAST, Houghton-Mifflin, Research Institute for Learning & Development, Baltimore Children’s Museum, the W5 in Ireland, PBS, TSP/Scholastic, Carnegie Hall, and NOGGIN. FableVision includes a diverse group of educators, writers, animators, instructional designers, programmers, interactive media specialists, as well as academic and research partners, including Lesley University, the Research Institute for Learning & Development, Fitchburg State College and Boston University. For more information about FableVision, please explore www.fablevision.com.
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The
centerpiece of this creative campaign is an animated 14-year old techno-savvy
girl named Lia (acronym for “Light in Action”)
who solves real-world problems with the power of light and science.
Along with the expertise in media and research that Boston University
and FableVision offer, the combined “creative-technology consortium”
sports over fifty-two faculty members across a wide variety of curriculum
areas, including physics, engineering, chemistry, nanotechnology and
astronomy. 
FableVision’s
Founding Partner and Director of Production & Technology Gary Goldberger
concurs. “Lia should be the first of many ways FableVision and
BU show how great entertainment, new distribution technologies and effective
learning can happen if you get the recipe right.”
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