George Lucas Educational Foundation Launches Edutopia

Posted on September 24, 2004

The George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF) has launched Edutopia, a new education magazine. The GLEF says the publication's editorial goal is to showcase the best and most innovative thinking in education, profile the sharpest minds, reveal ways around roadblocks, and question the status quo. Edutopia is the first magazine launch for Lucas and for the foundation, which was founded in 1991 to chronicle innovative practices in education. Edutopia arrived in mailboxes on September 15 and was sent to a qualified audience of 85,000 subscribers.

"I'm interested in the future, and the future is kids," says Lucas, who is profiled in the magazine's premiere issue. "Here we are entering the 21st century, and we are doing things based on 19th century ideas and methods. Our system of education is locked in a time capsule ... The digital divide is not about who has access to what technology but, rather, who knows how to create and express themselves in the language of sound and images."

Edutopia launches as a bimonthly publication until September 2005, when it will publish 10 times a year, and will follow the academic calendar. Designed for educators, legislators, parents and all others interested in education, the magazine profiles the heroes of education reform, cutting-edge schools, and brings to life innovations in science, art and technology.

Edutopia's leadership team includes

Editor in Chief: James Daly - Founder/Editor in Chief of Imagine Media's Business 2.0, Editor In Chief of Red Herring, a Features Editor at Wired, and a Senior Editor at Forbes ASAP.

Publisher: Cheryl Lucanegro - Founding member and Senior Vice President of The Industry Standard and former Senior Vice President of sales for the Salon.com group.

GLEF Executive Director: Milton Chen - Founding director of PBS/San Francisco's KQED center for Education & Lifelong Learning and the former director of research for the Sesame Workshop.

"Our goal is to exchange ideas that ultimately bring about change in the status quo. Edutopia will appeal to education influencers who recognize the urgent need to strengthen the U.S. educational system, whether you're an involved business or community leader, policy maker, district administrator, or parent," says Edutopia Editor in Chief James Daly. "We'll cover stories that open doors and minds to a new world of learning."

Each issue will include four to six major features. Features in the premiere issue including an article about the Las Vegas building boom, partisan proposals for lowerin gthe voting age and the importance of music education. The debut issue also includes a feature called George Lucas on Visual Vitality, where the filmmaker argues that students must learn a new language of image and sound in order to succeed.

Edutopia magazine is the latest product from The George Lucas Educational Foundation that produces documentaries, and publishes books, DVDs and CD-ROMs. Founded in 1991 and chaired by George Lucas, GLEF is a non-profit organization that chronicles innovative practices in education. GLEF's website, which includes Edutopia Online, serves as a multimedia resource center for educators to share ideas and obtain documentaries, instructional modules, in-depth case studies and other educational tools.