The Kennedy Center and Daimler Financial Services Announce Interactive Media Bus Hits the Road With Innovative Arts Education Program

The Kennedy Center and Daimler Financial Services Announce Interactive Media Bus Hits the Road With Innovative Arts Education Program

Following Kickoff in Washington D.C., Teaching Team Traveling to Schools in West Virginia, Florida, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri and Texas, Through May 2009

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in partnership with Daimler Financial Services, has completed the launch phase of its innovative educational program On Location: Spotlight On Your Community at the Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter School here.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090129/CLTH017-a )
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090129/CLTH017-b )

The digital media classroom on wheels, specializing in arts and technology, has started its odyssey across the United States and will travel to nine states through the end of May.

The program is designed to allow students the opportunity to tell the story of the arts in their communities, which will be shared worldwide on the Internet. Each of the 10 schools is receiving a media equipment package. Students and teachers will be trained in storytelling, filmmaking, editing, and producing video stories.

A new, customized Thomas Built Bus, a leading provider of school buses, manufactured and donated by Daimler Trucks North America, was converted into a media studio, and is visiting each school for two weeks. A drama teaching artist and media teaching artist will work with the classes in storytelling techniques and media skills. The teachers and students will work together to create a short video about an artist or arts group in the community. The completed video projects will be uploaded to www.onlocationproject.org web site maintained by the Kennedy Center and shared around the world.

"After months of planning, we are pleased to see the bus head out on the road," said Darrell Ayers, Vice President of Education for the Kennedy Center. "We were impressed by the enthusiasm, creativity, and talent demonstrated by the first school in D.C., and we can't wait to see the final products the other schools will produce."

"It is exciting for us to see this ambitious initiative reach the launch phase and see the bus start its' journey," said Richard Howard, Vice President of Daimler Truck Financial, a business unit of Daimler Financial Services. "It is an honor to partner with the Kennedy Center to bring this educational initiative to students, teachers and diverse communities across the United States."

Schools Selected for the 2008-2009 School Year:
-- Arts and Technology Academy Public Charter School, Washington, D.C.
-- Hometown Elementary, Hometown, West Virginia
-- Samuel S. Gaines Academy, Fort Pierce, Florida
-- Beaufort Middle School, Beaufort, South Carolina
-- Antonia Pantoja Charter School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
-- Anderson Middle School, Berkley, Michigan
-- Normal Park Museum Magnet, Chattanooga, Tennessee
-- Foley Middle School, Foley, Alabama
-- Thomas Jefferson Independent Day School, Joplin, Missouri
-- W.A. Meachum Middle School, Forth Worth, Texas

Each school will receive:
-- A two-week visit by the "On Location" Bus

-- Installed Media Lab consisting of a computer, digital editing software, camera(s), sound recording equipment, and accessories valued at approximately $5,000

-- $1,000 for the school to support the project

-- Curriculum materials and support to develop media projects about the arts in the community

-- Training for teacher(s) and students on how to use the media equipment and development of storytelling skills by professional teaching artists in drama and media

-- Ongoing relationship with the Kennedy Center's Education Department and the opportunity to work on additional projects with the Kennedy Center through its online program, ArtsEdge (www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org)

About The Kennedy Center Education Department

For more than 35 years, the Kennedy Center Education Department has provided quality arts experiences through performances, residencies, workshops, conferences, career development programs, symposia, and on-line and print resources. In the past year, the Center's education programs have directly impacted more than 11 million people across the nation. The mission of the Education Department is to foster understanding of and participation in the performing arts through exemplary programs and performances for diverse populations of all ages that represent the unique cultural life and heritage of the United States. For more information, visit the Center's web site at www.kennedy-center.org/education .

About Daimler Financial Services Americas (DCFS USA LLC)

Daimler Financial Services Americas (DCFS USA LLC), headquartered in Farmington Hills, Mich., provides brand-specific financing for Mercedes-Benz automotive dealers' inventories and their retail customers, and conducts business in the United States luxury car market as Mercedes-Benz Financial. In the U.S. trucking industry, Daimler Financial Services Americas conducts business as Daimler Truck Financial and finances Daimler commercial vehicles branded Freightliner, Sterling and Western Star for dealers and their customers in the fleet, vocational, municipal and owner/operator segments. Daimler Financial Services Americas serves as the headquarters for operations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Argentina and Brazil, and has approximately 1,600 employees. Daimler Financial Services Americas is a company of the Daimler Financial Services Group, headquartered in Berlin, Germany, which operates in 40 countries with an employee base of close to 6,800. Daimler Financial Services is one of the leading financial services organizations worldwide. For more information visit www.daimler-financialservices.com/na .

About Thomas Built Buses

Thomas Built Buses (www.thomasbus.com) is the leading manufacturer of school buses in North America, with more than one-third of the market. Since the first Thomas Built bus rolled off the assembly line in 1936, the company has focused on delivering the smartest and most innovative buses in North America. Thomas Built Buses, Inc. is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America LLC, the largest heavy-duty truck manufacturer on the continent and a leading manufacturer of class 3-8 vehicles. Daimler Trucks North America produces and markets commercial vehicles under the Freightliner, Sterling, Western Star and Thomas Built Buses nameplates. Daimler Trucks North America is a Daimler company.

For more information on this project, please visit
www.onlocationproject.org
For more information about the Kennedy Center please visit
www.kennedy-center.org

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090129/CLTH017-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090129/CLTH017-b
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
AP PhotoExpress Network: ENTER PRN7,8
PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Daimler Financial Services

CONTACT: Amanda Hunter, Kennedy Center, +1-202-416-8441,
Aehunter@kennedy-center.org; or Jack Ferry, Daimler Financial Services,
+1-248-991-6610, john.r.ferry@daimler.com

Web site: http://www.onlocationproject.org/
http://www.artsedge.kennedy-center.org/
http://www.kennedy-center.org/education
http://www.daimlerfinancialservices.com/na
http://www.thomasbus.com/
http://www.kennedy-center.org/

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