ANIMATION

ABOUT

CIT’s Puppet Masters Animation Programme is delivered with our partner organisation, the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive, with kind support from Arts Council England. This programme includes talks, network meetings, commissions and mentoring helps build new careers in animation and also promotes the medium in community and education settings.

ANIMATION PROGRAMME

The programme offers support for animators through a number of strands:

  • Masterclasses - a series of talks focusing on key aspects of animation, storytelling and direction

  • Commissions and mentoring - micro-funding and support to help animators develop new work

  • Puppet Masters Animation Conference - an annual day-long event bringing leading figures from the world of animation to Waterside.

  • The Cosgrove Hall Films Archive - A ‘living archive’ sustained through community. This project began life as an archival project and has expanded into exhibitions, workshops and connecting animation professionals with traditional animation techniques.

Puppet Masters Animation Conference

Nina Gantz’s Puppets from Edmond

The programme originated with the Puppet Masters Animation Conference which has taken place annually at Waterside since 2015. The day features a series of masterclass talks from experts who are responsible for some of the best known and best loved animation characters in popular culture.

The event features masterclass talks from leading figures in animation and our guests include Brian Cosgrove OBE (Cosgrove Hall Films), Peter Firmin (Small Films), Nina Gantz (animator / director Edmond, Best Short Film BAFTA), Peter Saunders (co-founder, Mackinnon & Saunders) and Francesca Berlingieri-Maxwell (art director, ParaNorman).


COSGROVE HALL FILMS ARCHIVE

 

PREVIOUS ANIMATION PROJECTS

AniMums

ANIMUMS

This project is a was a collaboration between ARC Just For Mums group, Manchester-based animator Anna Pearson and director / producer Jessica Wheeler, with an aim to improve maternal mental health through the art of animation.

REANIMATE

Bringing together the Cosgrove Hall Films archive with partners from Manchester Metropolitan University including the Animation department, students, MSc Industrial Design 3D and Print City facilities at MMU. This project aimed to bridge the gap between stop motion animation and new digital technology, by using new technology to explore new ways of digitising the collection. Connecting audiences to new technologies through cultural assets.

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Barry Purves

SOCKET

An animated short from producers at CIT and Cosgrove Hall Films Archive

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PREVIOUS COMMISSIONS

We have commissioned animations from three makers to make original works in response to techniques and materials pioneered at Cosgrove Hall Films.