Inventing the Future: Animatronics, Costume, and Performance Innovation

Professorships in the School of Design & Production play a pivotal role in helping faculty push the boundaries of their crafts and prepare students for emerging industries.

For Eric Hart, whose work spans performance innovation and animatronics, endowed support has helped establish and legitimize a one-of-a-kind graduate program: a master’s degree in Animatronics. Hart is the Malcolm & Patty Brown Distinguished Professor in the Institute for Performance Innovation.

“The title helps give it a sense of legitimacy,” he said. “It signals that this isn’t experimental in a temporary sense, but something real and worth investing in.” Funds have supported student travel to major industry conferences and provided opportunities to connect directly with professionals in themed entertainment industries.

“My students are able to invent the future right in front of my eyes,” he said.

The work sits at a crossroads between art and engineering — a reminder that artistic education is increasingly also about technological fluency and interdisciplinary creation.

Elsewhere in the School of Design & Production, Costume Design professor Brent Bruin is using his endowed professorship funds to acquire industrial sewing equipment, specialty machines, fabrics, and graduate student support. Bruin holds the Malcolm and Patty Brown Distinguished Costume Program Professorship.

“With the endowed professorship, we can provide stipends to four graduate students per year,” said Bruin. “This assistance allows graduate students greater flexibility to pursue outside employment while they focus on their studies.”

These investments directly shape what students learn: not only conceptual design, but the technical precision required in professional production environments.

Through the Brown professorships, donors are helping UNCSA students build futures in fields where imagination meets engineering — where the next generation of performance technology and costume craft is being invented.