Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design
About the Institute
What is the Rudman Institute?
The Kal and Lucille Rudman Institute for Entertainment Industry Studies' mission is to expand Drexel's knowledge of and relationships with the rapidly changing entertainment industry. Through an interdisciplinary approach, the Rudman Institute is focused on the creative, technical, business and social issues facing the film, television, music, internet, video-gaming and performing arts worlds. The Rudman Institute is located in the Antoinette Westphal College of Media Arts & Design at Drexel University.
Founded in 2004 with the generous support of music and show business pioneer Kal Rudman, the founder and publisher of the noted radio industry publication The Friday Morning Quarterback, and his wife Lucille, the Institute presents diverse entertainment and media programs. Recent events have included screenings and talks by television, radio, film and music industry producers and executives; seminars on how to sell your script and how to find funding for independent films; master classes; and career nights. These events have included senior executives from the Showtime Networks, Live Nation/Electric Factory Concerts, Sirius Satellite Radio, CBS Radio, CBS News, The Associated Press, Comcast, Comcast Sportsnet, National Public Radio, Nickelodeon, TV/RADIO ONE, and Jujamcyn Theaters.
The Rudman Institute created The Drexel Digest in September 2007. The daily two minute television broadcast, produced by students, features news and events happening on Drexel's campus and in the Philadelphia community. The Drexel Digest originates from DUTV's Paul F. Harron Television Studios on Drexel's main campus.
Last year several new initiatives for DUTV were launched by the Rudman Institute: The Bruiser Flint Show featuring the coach of Drexel's men's basketball team; The Comedy Forum, an evening of students' standup comedy from the World Café Life; and Boom! Voices of the Sixties A Conversation with Tom Brokaw. The Bruiser Flint Show is a question-and-answer program on all things basketball with Drexel's Men's Basketball Head Coach, Bruiser Flint. The Drexel Digest and The Bruiser Flint Show are ongoing programming initiatives at the Rudman Institute and can be seen on DUTV and www.DUTV.org
Additionally, the support of the Rudman Institute made possible UNIVERSITY 101, Drexel's first ever student produced television drama series. Costumes were designed by Fashion Design students, sets crafted by Interior Design students, musical scoring by Music Industry students, and all aspects of physical and creative production manned by Film & Video students. Screenwriting & Playwriting students wrote the scripts under the guidance of Lorraine Broderick, winner of six Emmy awards for her writing on All My Children, Guiding Light, and Days of Our Lives. Felicia M. Behr, Emmy Award winner and former SVP of daytime programming for ABC, oversaw all aspects of the series' production. You can read more about the show, which follows the lives of six students, their parents' faculty and administrators at fictitious Dexter University, in the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The Rudman Institute supports MAD Dragon Records and made possible the Mad Dragon release of The Redwalls, the Chicago based band that recently appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and The Late Show with David Letterman.
Built on the foundation of Westphal College's successful academic programs and related Entertainment Industry activities, the Institute strives to work with other Drexel schools and colleges to promote the interdisciplinary nature of the entertainment industry.