In a small ground floor office of the vast Second Line Stages filming complex in New Orleans’ Lower Garden District, The COOL Cooperative, which stands for Creating Outstanding Opportunities Locally, is helping to shape the minds of budding school-age filmmakers from the metro area.
Beth Burvant, executive director of the nonprofit, secured a chunk of a $1.2 million pot of state money last year, made available via Louisiana Economic Development’s Entertainment Development Fund, that will allow her to grow her summer camp, develop a curriculum that can be used by schools throughout the state and add projects that will have cultural significance for local students learning the business.
The nonprofit’s association with Second Line Stages —which was bought in 2020 by Hackman Capital Partners, one of the largest independent studio operators in the world—has put the program on a different level and allowed them to work with the kind of equipment used to make big productions.
