University and EA Establish Academy

A new academy to train students for the gaming workforce is being created by the University of Central Florida and EA Sports, a division of Electronic Arts, Inc. “Project E,” or the Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy, last month received $4.2 million in government funding and will open as part of the university’s College of Arts and Sciences in late 2005. A representative from University Relations said the academy could help establish a trained workforce in Florida and thus entice EA to increase its presence in the state’s central region, where approximately 300 employees currently work. The new academy, alongside Disney and Pixar, could help transform the Orlando area into a digital media hotspot, the representative said.