Cartoon Network Seeks New Voices

Cartoon Network hosted a panel entitled “Cartoon Network Women in the World of Animation,” which featured some of the network’s female creators and a sneak-peak of the new original series “Summer Camp Island” by British animator Julia Poss.

Speakers included Patricia Hidalgo, chief content officer, Turner EMEA & International Kids and more.

The network has also announced that it will sponsor a female student in an attempt to discover and support more female creators.

“Female talent and representation in the industry is more celebrated than ever and we are really happy to be shining a spotlight on this a and to be partnering with The Animation Workshop to sponsor an exceptionally talented female student,” says Hidalgo. “Cartoon Network is home to some of the industry’s top female creators but we know there are more out there with great, innovative stories to tell and it’s important we play our part in seeking out and supporting them,”

Cartoon Network Africa has launched a new intuitive dubbed Cartoon Network Africa Creative Lab, a new program that aims to bring new, local short form content to the digital platforms.

The effort is an attempt to address the gap in “locally relevant content which offers a viewing experience that resonates with its African audience,” and to encourage creators, writers, graphic artists and animation students from across the continent to create content for viewers across the continent.

“As sponsors of the Discop 2016 Animation Pitching Program, we were exposed to some inspiring local animation projects,” says Ariane Suveg, head, programming and acquisition, Turner Kids Africa. “We were so impressed by Cape Town-based Punch Monkey Studio’s amazing creative energy in the winning entry, Cloud Life, that the project has been traveling through the Turner group and is now in a development process with the Turner Asia Pacific production team! This reinforces our need to invest in local content and our commitment to further mentoring talent in the African animation industry.”

Ten projects will be short-listed in September when local creators will have the opportunity to pitch their work to Cartoon Network Africa’s content programming team. One winner and two runners-up will be unveiled in November.