St. Francis College (SFC) students, faculty, staff and invited guests gathered yesterday to celebrate the official opening of the College’s new television studio, which is equipped with the latest industry-standard software and hardware.

The ceremony was preceded by the inaugural First Take Talk with media professionals. Titled “The Business of Being Creative,” it featured television director Mitch Jacobson, the designer of the TV studio and a Franciscan Fellow at the College, who was interviewed by Kit Fitzgerald, a member of SFC’s Media and Communication faculty.

Jacobson related that he designed and built SFC’s TV studio with his engineering partner, Sal Basilone, to be a “small-footprint studio that can be moved around easily. The goal was to create a safe place for students to think and to dream,” which Jacobson said dovetails nicely with St. Francis College’s motto of “Dream. Serve. Achieve.” A copy of Jacobson’s book, Mastering Multi-Camera Techniques: From Pre-Production to Editing and Deliverables (Focal Press), was raffled off to students at the conclusion of the talk.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new TV studio, which is located on the fifth floor of St. Francis College’s Downtown Brooklyn campus, took place immediately following the First Take Talk and was projected live in the auditorium for the assembled audience by SFC students working in the studio’s control room.

Guests at the ribbon-cutting included David Cummings of CBS Sports; Sade Falebita, St. Francis College alumna and managing director of the Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV); Carl Coulanges, SFC alumnus and professor of media at Suffolk County Community College; fellow SFC alumnus and News 12 Brooklyn and News 12 The Bronx 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.

Dr. Augusta Palmer, chair of the Media and Communication department at St. Francis College, who spearheaded the creation of SFC’s new TV studio, said: “This studio is one of the jewels in the crown at our new, state-of-the-art facility at 179 Livingston Street. I am excited by the opportunities the studio, Professor Fitzgerald and Franciscan Fellow Mitch Jacobson are offering our students to learn multi-camera production.”