Corridor cities top the South’s digital media list

Southern Business & Development magazine has named three corridor cities as places in the South where digital media has clustered. Baton Rouge, New Orleans and Lafayette all were noted for growth in film, music, gaming, animation, simulation, security, commercials and design. “Once a place secures a large workforce of folks who work in these industries, that place has established a digital media cluster,” the magazine says. “There aren’t that many at this point in the South, but the ones profiled here have indeed earned cluster status.” The publication notes the state’s digital media tax credits, as well as the corridor’s large-scale infrastructure improvements: namely, the Louisiana Immersive Technologies Enterprise Center in Lafayette and the Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies & Research [AVATAR] Program at LSU. Those additions, Southern Business & Development notes, have led to companies like EA, Firebrand Games, Pixel Magic and TurboSquid, “making the corridor a true digital media hotspot.” Of New Orleans, the publication also noted that Graphite, Orphmedia and Jackson Square Group all have established offices there. Also mentioned was the fact that Lafayette is home to one of the nation’s largest municipally owned fiber-to-the-premises networks in the nation, and recently launched the Opportunity Machine, a business accelerator and incubator that leverages all of the region’s technology assets in one place for startups and existing firms. Other hot spots on the list include Austin, Texas, and Nashville, Tenn., as well as Atlanta and Orlando. For the rest of 10/12 Corridor Weekly, click here.