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Govt Optimistic of More Jobs and Training Opportunities from KingstOOn 2016

By: , February 6, 2016

The Key Point:

The Government is optimistic of increased employment and training opportunities from the staging of the 2016 KingstOOn animation conference and film festival.

The Facts

  • Within the first six months after the staging of the inaugural event in 2013, Jamaican animation studios signed with international companies such as Disney and Nickelodeon, creating a boost for the local sector.
  • A number of local animators and illustrators were trained to effectively service the contracts.

The Full Story

The Government is optimistic of increased employment and training opportunities from the staging of the 2016 KingstOOn animation conference and film festival.

Within the first six months after the staging of the inaugural event in 2013, Jamaican animation studios signed with international companies such as Disney and Nickelodeon, creating a boost for the local sector.

A number of local animators and illustrators were trained to effectively service the contracts.

Minister of State in the Ministry of Science, Technology, Energy and Mining (MSTEM), Hon. Julian Robinson, told JIS News that as a result of the success of the 2013 festival, more educational institutions are preparing young people to participate in the global animation industry.

“Today, our educational institutions such as CARIMAC, University of Technology (UTech), HEART/Trust NTA, Creative Production and Training Centre (CPTC) and the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, are providing training and certification for future animators,” he noted.

Through collaboration with local and international partners, the Government is looking towards facilitating even more opportunities for young animators from the staging of this year’s event.

This is in an effort to achieve the targets of the Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industries Project, said the Project Manager in the Ministry, Margery Newland.

She explained that “[the Ministry] has been charged to tackle the unemployment problem [among the youth] by implementing activities under the youth project. The animation industry is just one area to be targeted,” she said.

“What we are hoping to [do is to] train approximately 2, 000 animators with the expectation that at least 1, 400 of them will…get jobs in the animation industry at various levels,” she said.

She informed that the Ministry is also looking to train 2,500 animators in 2D and 3D animation.

The KingstOOn Animation Conference and Afro-descendant Film Festival will be held from March 12-13 at the Edna Manley College.

Last Updated: March 9, 2016

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