Students, faculty, staff and guests are invited to celebrate the official opening of SFC’s new television studio, which is equipped with the latest industry-standard software and hardware.

The ribbon-cutting will be preceded by a talk — to be held at 12:50 p.m. in the College’s auditorium — by Mitch Jacobson, television director and designer of the new studio. In “First Take: The Business of Being Creative,” Jacobson, a Franciscan Fellow, will be interviewed by Kit Fitzgerald, a member of SFC’s media and communication faculty. This will inaugurate a series of “First Take” talks with media professionals planned for the 2023-2024 academic year.

Guests at the 2 p.m. ribbon-cutting ceremony will include David Cummings of CBS Sports; SFC alumna and director of Downtown Community TV (DCTV) Sade Falebita; Professor Carl Coulanges of Suffolk Community College; SFC alumnus and news anchor Phil Taitt; and Lisa Russell, the Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, United Nations representative and founder of Create2030, which harnesses the power of creatives to support the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals. (Bios of some of the guests are available below.)

The “First Take” talk and ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new TV studio are free and open to the public and members of the media, who are welcome to attend one or both events.

Carl Coulanges is a graduate of St. Francis College and a professor of media at Suffolk County Community College. A talented, top-performing video production and multimedia specialist who earned a master’s degree in sports communication from Iona College, Coulanges taught and mentored many students in multi-camera production during the years he taught television production at SFC.

Sade Falebita is a multimedia producer and educator on a mission to nurture potential, educate and empower creatives to produce transformative art. She graduated from St. Francis College with a B.A. in film and broadcasting and B.S./M.S. in accounting. Following her work as an auditor at one of the Big Four global accounting firms, Falebita obtained an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University, where she reported on a range of hard news and features exploring issues including civil rights, immigration, healthcare and poverty. Her passion for teaching and fostering positive growth and change in people's lives has led to her current work as a non-profit leader. Falebita currently serves as managing director of DCTV, which provides multimedia training and community access to youth and artists, while also creating Oscar-nominated documentary content for Netflix and HBO.

Mitch Jacobson is a creative producer/director, broadcast editor and multi-camera expert with 30 years of experience in entertainment production. He has edited documentaries (Pavarotti, Newport Jazz Festival), comedy (Guy Code, Wild ’n Out), sizzles reels (Tommy Hilfiger, P. Diddy, Pepsi), talk shows (The Chew, Rachael Ray Show, The Wendy Williams Show), concerts and concert films (Paul McCartney, Aerosmith, Kid Rock). In addition, he has shot and directed hundreds of live special events for Planet Hollywood, Universal Studios, Hard Rock Café, MTV and Disney. Jacobson is the owner of Category Five Studios in New York City. He has been a keynote speaker at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference, an editing instructor for the Motion Picture Editors Guild and a contract trainer for NewTek’s TriCaster. Jacobson is the author of Mastering Multi-Camera Techniques: From Pre-Production to Editing and Deliverables.

Lisa Russell is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker, screenwriter and curator who has 15+ years of experience producing films and curating creative events that lie at the intersection of arts, social justice and global development. An established global speaker and thought leader, she is the founder of Create2030, an artist-led, BIPOC-driven network of creative professionals using their talents and platforms in support of advancing the 17 U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. Russell also is a two-time TEDx speaker, SheDecides Champion, U.N.-/NGO-contracted storyteller and arts curator, Fulbright Specialist, speaker, writer and regular presenter at film festivals, storytelling summits, leading universities, international conferences and youth leadership programs. Visit her website at www.lisarussellfilms.com.

Phil Taitt is the evening weekend anchor and a multimedia journalist at News 12 Brooklyn and News 12 The Bronx. With a passion to tell stories, the Brooklyn native and St. Francis College alumnus has always enjoyed learning information about people, places and things. Taitt has interviewed a range of luminaries, from Instagram influencers to the family of Martin Luther King, Jr.