Nico Meissner

Nico Meissner is Associate Professor and Deputy Director (Learning & Teaching) at Griffith Film School in Brisbane, Australia. He researches and writes about narrative futuring in innovation, documentary as creative research, and entrepreneurship in the screen industries. He was the inaugural Dean of the Faculty of Cinematic Arts in Malaysia and taught filmmaking, storytelling and entrepreneurship in the UK, Finland, Portugal, Malaysia, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Ghana, Colombia and Australia. Nico holds an MA in Journalism and Communication from Freie Universität Berlin, an MA in Television Documentary Production and PhD in Cultural Industries from Salford University in the UK.

Film Schools as Anchor Institutions? – Engaging Students with Sustainable Development Goals and New’ Audiences

 

How can we teach screen production students to engage new audiences for impact? Through this theoretical and interactive presentation, I hope to stipulate debate about the role of film schools in pursuing sustainable development goals.
First, I will offer the concept of film schools as anchor institutions; large organizations with a mission to positively impact the wellbeing of their surrounding community. Secondly, I will interrogate the notion of audiences in a pervasive media world; away from passive recipients of messages to active participants in the production and dissemination of meaning; the ‘mass audience’ (large scale, anonymous, dispersed) of the 20th century gives way to a re-discovery of ‘group audiences’ (small, familiar, localized, interactive), allowing for social interventions through interaction between creators and citizens.
With those theoretical concepts established, I will introduce the ‘GFS SDG Engagement Map’ as a simple example and conversation starter for how film schools might meaningfully teach their students to engage with new audiences and the SDGs. Finally, and most importantly, I hope to stipulate an interactive discussion on how our discipline might play a key role in addressing societal development goals in a joint effort between private, public and social sector audiences.