The Academy of Art University was established in San Francisco in 1929 by Richard S. Stephens, a fine art painter who had accepted the position of Creative Director for Sunset Magazine. Assisted by his wife, Mrs. Clara Stephens, he opened the new school in a rented loft at 215 Kearny Street to teach advertising art. In a few years, a distinguished faculty of practicing art and design professionals was assembled and the school’s philosophy was formulated: hire established professionals to teach future professionals. In 1933 the curriculum was expanded to include Fashion Illustration and in 1936 a Fine Art Department was added. In 1951, after graduating from Stanford University, Dr. Richard A. Stephens took over the Presidency from his parents. His vision led to the expansion of the Academy from an enrollment of fifty students in two rented loft spaces to a 5,200 student body, with continued expansion of department majors available. In 1966 the school was incorporated and granted authority to offer a Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Art by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary and Vocational Education of the State of California. The graduate program was inaugurated in 1977 and approved by 1983. Dr. Elisa Stephens, the granddaughter of the school’s founder, succeeded her father as President of the Academy of Art University in 1992. Dr. Stephens has been committed to expanding the Academy’s curriculum to stay current with new technologies and industry trends, as well as making state-of-the art facilities and resources available to Academy students. In 2004, the name of the school was changed from Academy of Art College to Academy of Art University in recognition of its depth, scope and quality. Today the University has approximately 9,000 students, making it the largest private school of art and design in the country. Students now have the opportunity to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts, Associate of Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Architecture or a Certificate Program, with over 30 areas of academic emphasis.
Created and published by industry veteran Steve Hall, Adrants provides marketing and advertising news with attitude in the form of a website and daily email newsletter. Written by former industry practitioners, it provides insightful, informed, experiential, no holds barred commentary on the state of the advertising and media industries. Editorial covers emerging marketing and advertising trends, cultural and demographic shifts affecting advertising strategies, new campaign launches, viral and buzz marketing, useful industry research and the examination of the industry's shift from old paradigms to new. Adrants has received numerous industry accolades including:
- In a November 16, 2005 Wall Street Journal article, "What the In-Crowd Knows: From Hollywood to Wall Street, Our Guide to the Blogs Insiders Read to Stay Current." Adrants was named, "one of the best ways to keep up on Madison Avenue's ups and downs.
- In July 2006, Adrants was awarded best advertising blog by MarketingSherpa in a survey of it's 100,000 readers
- Newsweek gives Adrants a nod in it's October 16, 2005 Blog Watch column but its use of the work snark makes us wonder if they've actually read us as they wrote, "Whether you love or hate today's print and television ads, adrants.com offers a smart, snark-free take on the modern advertising industry and its increasingly edgy campaigns."
- Forbes named Adrants one of its Best of the Web Marketing Blogs.
- In the January 2006 issue of MediPost's MEDIA magazine, Adrants was named a favorite blog
BIG (Bay Area Interactive Group) is a non-profit professional association dedicated to championing innovation in digital marketing to brand marketers, publishers and agencies through educational, networking, and association events. Some corporate members of BIG include, Agency.com, AKQA, Avenue A – Razorfish, Carat Fusion, Grey, Organic, see more member companies at http://sfbig.com/about/corporate-members. Additionally, BIG is proud to mention some of their corporate sponsors, including Google, Yahoo, Value Click Media, 24/7 Real Media and the Washington Post Newsweek Interactive, see more sponsors at http://sfbig.com/about/sponsors. In a fast-moving industry, staying on top of the latest trends and insights is critical to success. Education is at the very heart of BIG’s mission and is an essential component of our outreach activities. BIG has created a variety of educational opportunities to serve working professionals, students and those looking to enter the industry. BIG is dedicated to providing a forum where ideas, people and technology converge in the digital media world. BIG offers individual and corporate membership packages and by joining, professionals will play a vital role in supporting the Bay Area market and help it gain increased visibility by advertisers, corporations, and the media as a forward-thinking core of digital media, technology and services.
Business Development Institute (BDI), founded in 2001 by Steve Etzler is a leading career program and conference producer based in New York City. BDI has produced hundreds of events including advertising diversity recruiting programs in New York, San Francisco, and Boston. Through its creative event based programs BDI helps companies drive new revenue growth, raise awareness for their products and services, enhance their brand and market position, and generate tangible results from their business development, marketing and recruiting initiatives. We have also created a powerful network of thousands of business leaders who are BDI members, partners, media sponsors, corporate sponsors and clients. Our network is BDI’s key competitive differentiator and we put it to work for every program we produce. To learn more about BDI, its services and membership benefits, visit BDI's web site at www.bdionline.com.