Black Women Animate Partners with Cartoon Network for Boot Camp

By Sameer Rao Oct 12, 2018

Black Women Animate‘s (BWA) mission statement says that it “is designed to change the quality and scope of animation by giving Black women their rightful place in the industry." The collective aims to do just that by partnering with Cartoon Network for a new intensive workshop and panel session next month.

rntDeadline reported yesterday (October 11) that the BWA Boot Camp will take place on October 20 at Cartoon Network’s studios in Burbank, California. Attendees will learn about storyboarding, computer-generated modeling, finding an agent and more via master classes and panels. Instructors include women of color in the industry including animator Christina Faraj ("Coco") and Portfolio Entertainment executive Sonya Carey ("The Princess and the Frog").

Participants can also attend panels with industry figures and submit five-minute animated shorts for competition. Prizes include a pitch meeting with Cartoon Network and a portfolio review session with DreamWorks talent managers. This programming follows BWA’s goal of bringing more Black women, as well as women and gender-nonconforming people of color more generally, into the predominantly White male animation world. 

“Black Women Animate is committed to shifting culture through meaningful diversity and inclusion efforts," BWA founder and CEO Taylor K. Shaw told Deadline. "This boot camp is just the beginning of us giving our base the support they need to soar."

Apply at BWABootCamp.com.

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