(Burbank, California, August 16th, 2021) - The International Animated Film Society/ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum has awarded its Fifth Annual Faculty Grants to Ana Mouyis (University of Louisiana at Lafayette), Alexander Sergeant (University of Portsmouth), Mette Peters (University of the Arts Utrecht), Paul Taberham (Arts University Bournemouth), Javad Khajavi (Maynooth University), Timothy Jones (Robert Morris University), Anitha Balachandran (Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology), João Paulo Schlittler (University of São Paulo) and Raquel Coelho (San Jose State University).
The competition for the Grants, “designed to provide support for individuals or groups with reasonable expenditures associated with research, scholarly activity or creative projects in the field of animation,” was open to both full- and part-time teachers at accredited post-secondary institutions around the world.
Applicants for this year’s awards came from educators in Brazil, India, Ireland, the UK, the Netherlands and the United States. The committee was very pleased with the high quality and diversity of the proposals submitted this year. They covered a variety of original animated projects including short films, experimental animated documentaries, animation website and podcast development, scholarly efforts to bring national icons out of history, expansion of online animation database materials and/or research travel requests. The Selection Committee selected nine projects that stood out above the rest. ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum is proud to announce, in alphabetic order, the winners of this year’s Faculty Grants:
Alexander Sergeant, from University of Portsmouth in Enfield, UK, was given an award to support his open access digital resource website and podcast project, “Fantasy-Animation.org,” which examines the relationship between fantasy storytelling and animation;
Ana Mouyis, from University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, was awarded funds for research travel to Cyprus that entails conducting interviews and continuing an exploration of the cultural similarities between the divided communities of Cyprus for her experimental animated documentary;
Anitha Balachandran, from Srishti Manipal Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Bangalore, India, was given funds towards her five-minute experimental animated biographical film featuring the early twentieth century Indian singer Ustad Abdul Karim Khan;
Javad Khajavi, from Maynooth University, in Maynooth, Ireland, was given an award to help finance the acquisition of additional properties and rights to further the development and expansion of the online Animated Calligraphy and Animated Typography Database (ACTD);
João Paulo Schlittler, from University of São Paulo, in São Paulo, Brazil was provided funds to assist him in the continued progress of his animated 2D short film "Tabacaria", which brings to life a visual interpretation of Alvaro de Campos poem (The Tobacco Shop), through revisiting a series of china ink illustrations created in 1985;
Mette Peters, from University of the Arts Utrecht in The Netherlands, was given an award to support her research and public presentation of her project to bring George Debels (1890-1973), the most prominent pioneer of Dutch animation, out of obscurity which includes public screens on local teaching events;
Paul Taberham, from Arts University Bournemouth, in Bournemouth, England, was given an award to help finance his solo-authored book publication “Animated Visions: Theory, History and Aesthetics”;
Raquel Coelho, from San Jose State University, in San Jose, California, USA, was provided funds to assist in the completion of her pre-production work for her stop motion animated short film “After the Great Collapse” following the discussions of two women scientists post-pandemic.
Timothy Jones, from Robert Morris University, in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, USA, was provided funds to assist him in his project “Reframing Materials Best Practices for Inclusive and Accessible Learning in an Interdisciplinary Animation Lab” which created materials for animation faculty to create inclusive workshops and curriculum for a more Inclusive and Accessible learning experience.
The Selection Committee thanks all those who applied and encourages those who were not funded this time to do so again next year.
ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international ASIFA organization, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Annie Awards, Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, animated film preservation, special events, scholarships and screenings, as well as the Animation Educators Forum.
Monika Salter
Chair, AEF Faculty Grants Committee