At initial glance, it might appear that (a filmmaker) Brian Kraft and Jimi Petulla (a former broadcasting school instructor) are an unlikely team to head up an institute of greater learning. Nevertheless, the Mentor Apprentice School of the Arts, which is their school is not like any other school. MASA offers a distinctive educational approach to learning in the areas of film, recording and broadcasting, an approach that Kraft and Petulla are deeply invested in and passionate about-and an approach that shows phenomenal success through bypassing traditional techniques. The educational approach provided by MASA, and its branch schools Recording Connection, Film Connection and Radio Connection, is called the mentor-apprentice approach. Ironically, while considered non-traditional, the mentor-apprentice technique actually predates "traditional" academics in many ways. In simpler terms, this approach does not follow that conventional classroom training but instead it pairs students with working professionals who train them in a actual life setting like recording studios, film production companies and radio stations while utilizing a curriculum, which Kraft designed as a guide. This real time methodology is actually patterned after the traditional means of teaching where the master teaches the apprentice, and this is one technique of teaching that has by no means failed to create numerous skilled individuals in various trades for many, numerous years. The approach works very nicely in the fields of film, recording arts and broadcasting, just as it has carried out historically with other trades like carpentry, masonry and printing.
The approach works so well, actually, that Brian Kraft and Jimi Petulla can boast of placing thousands of their graduates into studios throughout the country over nearly 3 decades, with a success rate of over 70 percent for their graduates. Although proponents of conventional academic systems are baffled by these results, the track record of MASA is enough proof.
Krad and Petulla went via different paths prior to their passion for the mentor-apprentice technique was born. Petulla, who used to be an instructor at the now-defunct broadcasting school witnessed the school's unscrupulous means of attracting students without supplying them using the much required education and came up using the decision of finding a much better answer for this type of education. Brian Kraft was himself a preliminary success story of the mentoring approach, having gained his abilities as a filmmaker by mentoring under music video director DJ Webster. Petulla founded Entertainment Connection (now MASA) in 1983, and Kraft became the Chief Operating Officer and Academic Officer…and the rest, as they say, is history.
Sometimes the key to success is simplicity. Even though you will find some fields that need academic environments for studying, mastering the trades like film, broadcasting, and recording inside a classroom may turn out to be too complicated. Removing the middle man enabled Brian Kraft and Jimi Petulla to create learning these trades simpler therefore enabling them to offer much better education to students with out having them invest a fortune. Nevertheless, the number of students enrolled is not the real measure of their success, however it will be the number of students who had been able to land a stable job.
