Teresa Foley, local artist and head of Media Literacy Arts Education at Pittsburgh Filmmakers has been awarded an academic fellowship to the inaugural "Ideas Institute" at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab in Cambridge, Massachusetts this summer.

The Ideas Institute is an innovative leadership program for people dedicated to helping youth learn to express themselves creatively with new technology. Foley was selected along with 20 other candidates from 350 applicants. They represent an exceptional group of educators from around the world (South Africa, Brazil, Columbia, Mexico, Nigeria, Macedonia, Ireland, India, and the United States). The fellows will discuss youth development and learning styles, innovative programming ideas, and attend hands-on workshops with cutting-edge technology. All of the fellows have demonstrated a commitment to young people from low-income communities.

The Media Lab is an international leader in the design of innovative digital technologies. Bringing together technology and the arts, university
and industry, the physical world and the virtual world, Media Lab researchers develop new technologies that help people express themselves
creatively and understand the world around them.

Foley has worked as a media education consultant for the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Jamestown, New York Arts Council and the Pennsylvania Department of Education. She recently completed a year-long outreach project at the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh teaching video production workshops for middle and high school youth. Her speaking engagements and residencies focus on criticism and the representation of race and gender in animated media, including Girls Film School in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

In addition to her work with youth, Foley is an independent media artist in her own right. Her most recent short video, a mano/by hand is a colorful, fast-paced documentary that explores the art of hand-painted sign making in Merida, Mexico. Foley is currently shooting her next project, which will screen at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' Media Tonic event on June 25, 2005. The piece is entitled Mise-en-Scene for John Doe, and will be projected behind the headlining musical performer.