The Cleveland Institute of Art’s new Interactive Media Lab has Disney DNA.
As a native Clevelander, my connection with The Cleveland Institute of Art runs deep. Growing up just a few miles from University Circle, I took Saturday drawing classes at CIA as a youngster and continued through high school — eventually enrolling on scholarship in 1984, back when it was a five-year collegiate program: two years of Foundation, followed by three years majoring in Painting and minoring in Sculpture.
Over the years, I’ve contributed to CIA as a Distinguished Alumnus across a succession of Institute presidents — supporting student enrollment efforts, facilitating Hollywood studio visits, and advising on the implications of emerging technologies. These efforts spanned 1998 to 2018, while I worked variously as a CG Supervisor at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, a Distinguished Foreign Professor at the Beijing Film Academy, VP & Head of Creative for Disney China Local Content Production, and as Founder & Executive Director of Beijing’s International Animation & Virtual Reality Research Center.
In 2018, I reconnected with CIA in a deeper way. Invited to speak at commencement that year, I found myself inspired to explore how I might support the Institute’s next chapter. My conversations with CIA leadership revealed a shared interest in advancing digital media, interactive storytelling, and extended reality (XR).
In 2019, while still based in Beijing, I was invited to share thoughts on the future of CIA’s Game Design department. I proposed something broader — the CIA Interactive Media Lab (IML): a hybrid academic/industry initiative combining game design education with a content incubator for XR and AI. I drafted a lean canvas for the IML, outlining strategic frameworks, curricular opportunities, and community partnerships.
The CIA Board of Directors received my proposal with enthusiasm, and I entered into active discussions with leadership and stakeholders throughout that year. I shared detailed planning materials and flew back to Cleveland to pitch the IML concept at the CIA and across Northeast Ohio’s academic and industry circles.
When COVID-19 hit in 2020, the IML initiative was understandably sidelined. Still, the CIA continued internal development, bringing in new voices while I stayed in touch from my new base in Taipei, where I’d relocated amid the pandemic.
In 2022, the CIA publicly announced the Interactive Media Lab, with media interest accelerating in advance of the Fall 2025 opening. While my involvement has concluded, I take a Moses-like pride in having proposed the IML concept and contributed to its realization. It’s been gratifying to watch the concept take root and grow, and I look forward to seeing how it evolves in the years ahead.
Who knows? Maybe I’ll make a movie there.
Kevin is the author of AWN's Reality Bites blog, his musings on the art, technology and business of immersive media (AR, VR, MR) and AI. You can find Kevin's website at www.kevingeiger.com and he can be reached at [email protected].
