{"id":4115,"date":"2024-12-04T17:33:58","date_gmt":"2024-12-04T17:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=4115"},"modified":"2024-12-05T15:12:58","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T15:12:58","slug":"internship-leads-to-major-gift-to-siu-school-of-media-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/?p=4115","title":{"rendered":"Internship leads to major gift to SIU’s School of Media Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A.J.
A.J. Rice (left) and Connor Falson, program coordinator of the Technology Equipment Room in the School of Media Arts, unload some of the equipment donated by MBS, Inc.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Jeff Wilson<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a friend introduced Joe Dougherty to SIU senior A.J. Rice, they had no idea of the incredible partnership on the horizon.<\/p>\n

Dougherty is executive vice president of MBS, Inc., one of the world\u2019s largest sources of lighting and grip equipment in the entertainment world. Rice, a Du Quoin native, is majoring in cinema and theater and had recently completed an internship with Village Roadshow in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

\"MBS\"<\/p>\n

Over the next few months, Rice would have an internship with MBS, and Dougherty would be finalizing a gift-in-kind of more than $350,000 in lighting and grip equipment to SIU\u2019s School of Media Arts.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter his internship with Village Roadshow, he had no plans for the following summer, so I offered him an internship,\u201d Dougherty said. \u201cThe gift came up organically in our conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rice noted the importance of such a partnership with a company like MBS.<\/p>\n

\u201cSIU is a school that thrives on hard work and self-determination. It needs to keep up technologically with the top schools in the nation,\u201d he said. \u201cMBS has everything, so I started figuring out what SIU needs and wants.\u201d<\/p>\n

Upon seeing the lists of needed equipment, Dougherty quickly saw that MBS was perfectly positioned to help.<\/p>\n

\"MBS
The donation includes hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of lighting and grip equipment.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cPrimarily, we are providing lights and grip equipment that service broadcast television and theater,\u201d he said. \u201cI recognized that the things SIU needed are things we have in abundance. As some of these things become less moving in our industry, we make room for updated equipment, but the things we\u2019re moving on from can make SIU\u2019s inventory more robust.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beyond the impact of the gift, the partnership with MBS is likely to outlast any equipment the company can offer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe internship was mind-blowing. I tried to be like a sponge while I was there,\u201d Rice said. \u201cI would love to not be the only one experiencing these things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dougherty said MBS plans to expand its partnership with SIU and hopes to continue improving the experience of SIU students.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the biggest pleasures of my role in this industry is bringing good people together with great intentions and great skills,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is the respected formal education in film and theater, and the internship complements that. The only limit is your ambition.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Jeff Wilson When a friend introduced Joe Dougherty to SIU senior A.J. Rice, they had no idea of the incredible partnership on the horizon. Dougherty is executive vice president of MBS, Inc., one of the world\u2019s largest sources of lighting and grip equipment in the entertainment world. Rice, a Du Quoin native, is majoring … Continue reading Internship leads to major gift to SIU’s School of Media Arts<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donor-stories","category-higher-education"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4115"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4121,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4115\/revisions\/4121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.siuf.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}