Kidscreen Announces Next Wave Mentoring ProgramKidscreen Announces Next Wave Mentoring Program

Kidscreen has announced the launch of its Next Wave Mentoring Program, a three-month initiative designed to connect post-secondary animation students preparing to graduate with experienced mentors who can help guide their successful entry into the kids’ entertainment industry. 

A select group of third- and fourth-year students from world-leading animation programs will be paired up with industry mentors based on the type of work each student is interested in focusing on after graduating. Each matched pair will have three video calls over the next six weeks to discuss entry-level career planning, identify and develop leads for employment opportunities and review the student’s portfolio of work. A second six-week phase of mentoring with another group of students and mentors is planned to begin July 20 and run until the end of August.

Schools participating in phase one are: California Institute of Arts (U.S.), Sheridan College (Canada), Gobélins—L’École de L’Image (France), Ballyfermot College and the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (Ireland) and The Animation Workshop (Denmark). Phase two will include students from NYU Tisch School of Arts (U.S.), Centennial College (Canada), Griffith University and Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia) and Image Campus (Argentina). 

Next Wave mentors for phase one include Billy Wee (senior vice president, original animation, HBO Max), Eryk Casemiro (senior vice president, preschool, Nickelodeon), David Levine (vice president kids programming, Europe & Africa/U.K. & Ireland, Disney EMEA), Janine Weigold (manager, original animation, international, Netflix), Tara Sorensen (creative development head, children, Apple), Stephanie Betts (executive vice president content and current series, WildBrain), Chris Keenan (senior vice president and executive producer, content development and production, Mattel), Alex Woo (former story lead, Pixar) and Colin Williams (creative director, Sixteen South). 

“With internships, festivals and student-inclusive events like Annecy cancelled or running in a drastically different way this year because of COVID-19, graduating students are going to have a harder time getting started in the workforce right now,” says Jocelyn Christie, vice president and publisher, Kidscreen. “We are hoping this program will fill that gap and keep our industry well supplied with fresh new talent, and we could not be more grateful to our mentors for generously sharing their time and wisdom to help us meet that goal.”   

More information about Kidscreen’s Next Wave Mentoring Program can be found online at Kidscreen.com/nextwave.