‘Honoring Our Stories’ Themed 'Black in Animation Awards Show' Coming December 6
Black Women Animate and Cartoon Network Studios launch new initiative to recognize and honor Black people in animation who are blazing a trail to the future.
LOS ANGELES -- Black Women Animate (BWA Studios) and Cartoon Network Studios have partnered to launch the inaugural Black in Animation Awards Show. This new initiative will honor Black people in animation who have and currently are paving the way for this sector of the entertainment industry. This awards show will be the closing event for the third annual BWA Studios Boot Camp training event on December 6, 2020 at 5:00 PM PST / 8:00 PM EST. Attendees can watch the awards show virtually and can register to watch the show and participate in the BWA Studios Boot Camp here.
The theme of this year’s event is “Honoring Our Stories.” The inaugural honorees include Vanessa Morrison, President of Streaming at Walt Disney Studios (Trailblazer Award); Bruce Smith, EP & Director at Disney Television Animation (Narrative Creator Award); Dr. Ayoka Chenzira, TV Director and Experimental Filmmaker (Cultural Innovator Award); Tina Obo, Director (Rising Star Award); Latoya Raveneau, Director at Disney Television Animation (Next Gen Award), and Carole Holliday, Animator and Story Artist (Lifetime Achievement Award).
Honorees were selected by the Awards Show Nomination Committee inclusive of industry veterans and community leaders: Camille Eden (VP of Recruiting and Talent Development, Nickelodeon), Nicole Rivera (Vice President, Original Series Development, Cartoon Network), Lynne Southerland (Director/Showrunner), Sidney Clifton (EP, Jim Henson & Deluxe Animation, Supervising Producer, BWA Studios), Carl Reed (President, Lion Forge Animation), Jinko Gotoh (Producer, Netflix ), and Marlon West (Head of Effects, Disney).
The show will be hosted by Grammy award-winning artist Estelle. In addition, Estelle will perform True Kinda Love, the fan-favorite song, as sung by her character Garnet, from Cartoon Network’s Steven Universe: The Movie.
“Three years into our start up, we are continually dismayed at the lack of knowledge people have about Black legends in animation,” reflected BWA Studios Founder and CEO Taylor K. Shaw and Founding and Managing Partner JLove Calderón. “Prior to this show, there was no place to really honor and acknowledge the incredible role that Black folx have had in the animation industry. Keeping to our motto: if you don't see it, create it! Thus, the first ever Black in Animation Award Show was established.”
The third annual BWA Studios Boot Camp is a free, two-day virtual event which includes intensive workshops and insightful panels featuring industry experts and animation gurus from Cartoon Network Studios, Warner Bros. Animation, Nickelodeon, Disney, Inspire Justice and 9 Story Media. The Boot Camp is produced by A Wynn Wynn Production. Cartoon Network Studios is a founding partner.
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From SF State Magazine:
Art Trek
When CAMILLE EDEN transferred to SF State from Diablo Valley College in the late 1980s, she thought she was training to be an artist … though she didn’t know what that would actually mean after graduation. She just loved drawing. A career? A future? That she hadn’t figured out. Then one of Eden’s classes — a course that emphasized interdisciplinary arts — changed everything.
“It was in that class that I found out you could draw and make a living, because a [movie] art director sketches,” Eden recalls. “At that point I shifted from art to film.”
A few years later, Eden got in the door at renowned special effects house Industrial Light & Magic thanks to a fellow Gator. “BRIDGET GOODMAN (B.A., ’92), was a receptionist there, though later she became a phenomenal digital painter,” Eden says. “She kept telling me, ‘Keep applying.’ And when I got hired I started as a coordinator in their security department.”
Eden eventually parlayed that access into a long career as a visual effects artist. In the early 2000s, she shifted from hands-on production to artist recruitment. After spending nine years as a talent acquisition and outreach manager at Walt Disney Animation Studios, she recently joined Nickelodeon as its VP of animation recruitment and development. Now she’s the one opening the door for young artists hoping to jump-start their careers by working on Nickelodeon shows like “SpongeBob SquarePants” and the upcoming animated “Star Trek” spinoff “Prodigy.”
“When I started, I didn’t see as many women or people of color or people with disabilities in the industry,” Eden says. “Doing something about that is a passion of mine. I want to keep moving the industry forward.”
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