Education & Classes in Lincoln

Knowledgeable instructors at AcademyX help to keep students ahead of ever-changing technologies through a comprehensive listing of public courses. With sessions centered on Microsoft Office, Adobe graphic design, and web design, students acquire and develop new skills to apply toward career advancement. Classes pair students with dedicated experts and a host of accompanying learning materials. In addition, students work on dual-monitor workstations that display instructor presentations and provide ample screen space for applying new skills and writing haikus in binary.

It Factor Studios' film performance and industry workshops unfurl under the leadership of Hollywood directors and professional actors from the American Film Institute. Founder Ryan McKinney and coach to the stars Steve Whittaker apply their workplace experience to create a safe and progressive learning environment and help actors to prepare for industry difficulties such as auditioning, resumé writing, or staring contests with Jack Nicholson. The results-driven team mentors budding performers of all experience and skill levels in a wealth of techniques, including Method and Meisner, with many courses designed to complement each other.

To enable instructional shoots and commercial productions, the studio boasts full capabilities for film preparation, shooting, and editing. Students interested in the back side of the lens can sign up for instruction in film shooting, editing, and screenwriting, enabling them to stage scenes and reboot old home movies under professional conditions. In addition to workshops, events such as guest-speaker series with working or retired film professionals help pupils to garner real industry connections.

McLaughlin Studios employs a team of professional performing artists to teach private and group lessons in instrumental music, dance, and musical theater. Private music lessons further an individual's proficiency in pop, jazz, rock, classical, and show-tunes styles, whereas group sessions encourage cohesive learning for bands and ensembles prepping for three annual recitals. Adept dancers help protégés progress at their own pace as they learn complex steps and how to dodge tossed rose bouquets with creative movement, ballet, strength training, and modern dance-fusion styles.

Started just a year ago, the McLaughlin Theatre Company gathers youth performers for independent productions at the MTC Playhouse. Young thespians hone their on-stage and auditioning skills in acting classes, which serve as more secure steps toward performing in Broadway musicals than thumb-wrestling matches with Andrew Lloyd Weber.

The Music Store nurtures aspiring musicians with an exhaustive collection of instruments and broad teaching resources. More than 40 teachers share their skills during lessons for classical and contemporary instruments, and sheet-music-literate students can learn new songs by sight from a selection of more than 800 titles. Staff can also order any music still in print and start the musical journey with the purchase of new and used pianos and band instruments. Grownups slowly slash chords with the purchase of a new guitar, whereas child-size guitars come equipped with Pop Rocks–flavored fingerboard.

Gina Rossi's art comes to life in a flurry of sparks and cauldrons of heat. A self-taught artist and certified metal-inert-gas (MIG) welder, her work incorporates fused glass, paintings, and organic metal figures, and has been featured in the Sacramento Press, as well as KCRA Channel 3 news. When she was young, Rossi's forays into art and imagination provided stable solace from her tumultuous and oft-troubled childhood, and her passion eventually flowered into a full-time endeavor. Through her growth as an artist, she adopted a trash-into-treasure approach, working with recycled metal and glass, and earning notoriety for getting Oscar the Grouch evicted to craft a piece from his former home. Her regular welding and fused-glass-art classes share her talents with eager students, as do her efforts with community art projects, which empower young, disabled, and elderly people to make their creative mark in the world.

The mixologists at ABC Bartending School utilize years of bartending experience to divulge saloon secrets in certification-based and recreational bartending classes. In the mixology course, expert instructors impart drink recipes and refine beer and wine palates while students shake up cocktails and take cover from projectile champagne corks. Certification classes prepare students for bartending careers as they mix classic and popular drinks while learning about alcohol laws, responsible liquor service, and stocking and inventory. Instructors demonstrate free pouring techniques, allowing students to fill faraway glasses or safely drizzle beverages into the mouths of piranhas. ABC’s job-placement program puts graduates to work in restaurants, nightclubs, sports bars, hotels, country clubs, and cruise-ship bars.