Arts Council Axes Animate

We are very sorry to announce that Animate is likely to close down at the end of March 2011, following Arts Council England’s decision not to fund our 2011 programme.

Animate began in 1990 as an Arts Council/Channel 4 scheme and has been supported by the Arts Council England continuously for 21 years.

We set up Animate Projects four years ago, following the sudden death of Dick Arnall. animateprojects.org is a unique resource, with more than 140 films, many by key figures in British animation, including 11 British Animation Awards winners and five BAFTA nominations, as well as interviews, essays and background production materials.

We are very proud of the work that we have been able to support, and would like to thank all the animators, artists, filmmakers, writers, and partners that we’ve worked with over the years, and to everyone who has taken an interest in our work.

Our programme continues, with new works online, until March, and we hope to keep the website live for some time after that.

Whilst we are exploring options for beyond March, we would appreciate any expressions of support that might help.

Please comment below or email us at: info@animateprojects.org

Notes:

We set up Animate Projects in 2007 following the sudden death of Dick Arnall, on the understanding that the Arts Council intended to make us a ‘regularly funded organisation’, however they have only ever given us ‘project’ support.

Arts Council England told us that an application to Grants for the arts for our 2011 - 2012 programme was our only option for support. We have had positive discussions with Channel 4 and were hopeful that the AnimateTV scheme would run again.

The Arts Council assessment of the application stated that, although Animate Projects has a strong artistic record and is seen as a strategically important organisation, ‘it would not be fair or consistent to fund activity of this nature through Grants for the arts.’ This is despite our having been funded through Grants for the arts since 2007.

We have applied for ACE Portfolio funding, but that would commence in April 2012, and without GftA support we cannot sustain the organisation over the 12 months until then.

Animate Projects is the only UK organisation with a particular focus on the production and exhibition of experimental animation, and is at the forefront in the commission of artists’ moving image for exhibition online and digital platforms.

Download the press release here.

British animation: The Channel 4 factor

Clare Kitson commissioned animation for Channel 4 from 1989 to 1999, and her book is a personal and authoritative review of the period, bracketed with a bit of the before, and observations about the current state of play.

But the book is no wallow in a subjective history. Clare is scrupulous and questioning about all that kind of stuff. Her charting of the early days of Channel 4 is informative and evocative of the ambition and freedom of those times. And her perspective on how things have gone since her departure is considered, and where critical, recognises context and realities. 

But what's really great is what takes up most of the book - in depth, well illustrated essays on 30 key works - jam packed with facts and reflections - and providing unique insight into the processes of making animated films.  And if only one of these is an Animate film, then I'm consoled that 11 of them are made by people commissioned by Animate to make other films. 

The book is an invaluable, important, essential contribution. It gives a terrific sense - both in broadcasting and individual productions - of how things work.

From my own time at the Arts Council - I started working there as the first Animate films were being delivered - one of the things I remember about Clare is her generosity and risk-taking in accepting/trusting the opinion of others - at least in areas where she felt she lacked particular experience or expertise. So I'm sure she'll allow a couple of record straightening comments. 

I didn't simply 'migrate' from the Arts Council to set up Animate Projects - they'd made me redundant six months beforehand, and Jacqui and I spent a very uncomfortable couple of months where we cash-flowed things with our own money, looking after projects in production, and launching a new round in good faith, on the words, and promise of contracts, of the Arts Council and Channel 4.

I think Clare overstates Animate's relationship with LUX - they have distribution copies of the films, but the shift to an emphatically 'art' agenda for the broader Animate 'project' was something that Dick Arnall and the Animate freelancers forged ahead with, following an Arts Council review.  

And I can't agree that "British art animation in a fragile state". Funding certainly is, and as a result, the tradition of 'arthouse', independent animation is in a period of drought...but animation is a vital and flourishing aspect of current visual arts practice. And terms like 'fringe' and 'marginal' really depend on where you're viewing things from - Animate films have won Baftas and BAAs - and are shown internationally - and not just in 'cutting-edge' categories. But these tele-centric viewpoint lapses (ahem...) are minor and rare, and it feels a bit impertinent to even mention them. Animate's relationship with C4 - with, and since, Clare - has been one of utmost, reciprocal, respect. If only power and money were always in the hands of the ones who love you.

London International Animation Festival kicks

The London International Animation Festival - LIAF - runs from next Monday for a whole week (1 - 7 September), and last night we popped along to their launch screening. We are thrilled that all the AnimateTV 2007 films have been selected - you can read short essays on each of them at animateprojects.org. And Animate's friend Jonathan Hodgson is a guest, with a q&a session on Saturday.

Our favourites from last night were the excellent and award winning Skhizein by Jeremy Clapin from France -a sad-man-in-a-room films that transcends the cliche with its poignant metaphor for madness. And  Jesse Rosensweet's brilliant, Paradise, a National Film Board of Canada funded film, featuring tin toy characters with frozen expressions and cold, bleak lives. 

Image: Francis, Let Me Feel Your Finger First

AnimateTV 2009 Selection

The deadline for proposals for our new commissions for Channel 4 was 31 July. We got 131 submissions, and we're now in the middle of the selection process. We've got a shortlist of 20, and the advisory panel meets up at the beginning of September. We'll let you know how that goes...

Sending rejections is the least fun part, though we know it's worse getting them.  

Blog Number One

We've been going for over a year now, so this blog is overdue...

On animateprojects.org and in  our regular newsletter (subscribe here) we'll continue to feature our films, production materials, interviews, etc, and information about our commissioning and other activity. On the blog, we'll be posting about other news, about things we like, opinion, and other more random things. 

We also hope that the blog is where people will get in touch, contribute comments, made suggestions, ask questions, have a conversation...

One of the things we decided when we put the back catalogue online last year was to NOT invite comments on the films. The main website isn't an open thing like Vimeo or the BBC Network - we commissioned those films, and worked closely with the people who made them. We respect them, and though we're not afraid of criticism, we don't think it should be in the same space we're showing the work.