RESIDENCY
During the pandemic, in the summer of 2020, we launched our first residency programme. This programme was set up with the intention to promote gender equality in the industry and increase the chance of employment for female animators at a directorial level. To achieve this goal the Residency supported female animators to complete a self-directed 30 second animation and partnered them with a sound design studio to add audio to their work. Residents were assisted with building a professional network and developing their skills and confidence to help them to feel more able to contribute to the animation industry at the directorial level.
This initial programme was created in collaboration with Strange Beast, and we are proud to say that, since our programme, two of the three residents we worked with have been signed as directors to animation studios and our third resident has gone onto be signed as an Art Director.
We are currently looking for funding to enable this programme to reach a more diverse selection of women and we hope to be announcing our next residency in the near future.
In the meantime, please check out our wonderful residents’ beautiful films below and feel free to contact us if you’re interested in collaborating.
COLLABORATORS
Executive Producer
Kitty Turley
“When Hannah first emailed me about the residency idea, I think I read the first sentence before replying to say “YES PLEASE, WE WOULD LOVE TO DO THIS!”. The work She Drew That does to support women to develop their confidence and skills in the animation community is inspiring. As an animation studio that makes a concerted effort to keep gender balance on our directing roster and within our animation teams, the work SDT does aligns closely with our ethos. Creating a residency with the purpose of helping animators to hone their skills as directors is the natural evolution.
Having incredibly skilled women working in all areas of animation is vital, and at the moment, women are horribly underrepresented as directors. Directors are responsible for the overall vision of animated stories, music videos and commercials being put out into the world: it’s key that those visions aren’t always coming from the same demographic.
Working with Bianca, Eva & Gaia in this way has been a unique privilege. Talking through and learning about their processes, and seeing them bring their concepts to life has been incredibly fun and eye-opening. They’re all exceptionally talented directors, I cannot wait to see what they each do next, and to hopefully work with them all again soon!”
