Fortuna Moore of digital marketing company Skyzack leads this session for artists and creatives seeking to understand which is the best platform for them and how to create simple and effective social media campaigns.

Tickets: £15*

Book online here or call 0161 912 5616.

This session will cover:

• understanding the platforms - Instagram / Tiktok / Facebook etc - which is best for artists?

• simple tips on creating content - when to use images, when to use video

• creating a simple campaign - how to generate interest leading to a craft fair / exhibition / performance

• General advice on frequency of posts / types of posts - eg: stories / reels etc

About the Trainer

Fortuna has spent over a decade in digital marketing, helping small and independent businesses and individuals build their online presence.

For the past few years she has also been the social media manager for a leading contemporary craft and art event, which keeps her close to the world of artists and makers and the people who follow them.

• * If booked with our Photography skills workshop, then both sessions are £25 (a £5 discount)

• ** This session includes a lunch break.

Photographer Jason Lock leads this session for 2D & 3D artists, looking at how to create professional level product shots on low or no budget.

Tickets: £15*

Book online here or call 0161 912 5616.

Essential advice for how to make your work look its best.

This is a ‘do it yourself’ guide to photographing your own work, revealing tips and tricks to help you photograph your work to its best advantage – ideal for artists and creatives looking to improve how their work is presented.

About the Trainer

Jason Lock is a hugely experienced photographer and film maker.

Through his production company, he works with a range of clients, including the Science Museum Group, the National Trust and Manchester Art Gallery.

• If booked with our Social Media Skills workshop, then both sessions are £25 (a £5 discount)

For writers working on short film, television and cinema projects, this six part course led by Ric Michael (former Head of Development, Baby Cow TV) looks at how to structure your narrative, develop characters and create pitches.

Tickets: £200

Book online here or call 0161 912 5616

Dates: 05, 12, 19 & 26 October, 02 and 09 November 2026

For writers working on short film, television and cinema projects, this six part course led by Ric Michael (former Head of Development, Baby Cow TV) looks at how to structure your narrative, develop characters and create pitches.

In-depth sessions will cover different aspects of the script development process including:

• Refine your script

• Understand character

• Develop narrative arcs

• Pitching your work

Learn how the TV industry works for scriptwriters.

All participants get free entry to Meet The Producers on 2nd Feb 2027.

About the Trainer

Ric Michael is former Head of Development at Baby Cow Manchester.

He has built a reputation as a professional and inspirational trainer, with an ability to deliver hard skills and personal mentoring.

He launched Manchester Poetry Festival and produced events for Granada TV. Ric was commissioned to make a range of live poetry programmes for BBC3 for multi-­award winning Baby Cow Productions.

Ric became Head of Development for Baby Cow Manchester, which developed “Gavin & Stacey” and established its reputation for bringing through and nurturing creative talent.

The return of Puppet Masters, delivered by CIT and the Cosgrove Hall Films Archive.

Tickets £25 Full Price, £15 Concession, £5 Students/Pupils

Book online here or call 0161 912 5616.

Meet The Puppet Masters is a one-day event featuring a series of masterclass sessions and panel discussions featuring leading animators, creative artists and figures from the film and TV industry.

The event is ideal for animators, filmmakers, cinematographers, artists working with animation and fans of hand-drawn and stop-motion animation.

This year’s event features in-person talks and discussions with Grammy-winning animator Em Cooper, BAFTA-nominated animator Lizzy Hobbs, SXSW Special Jury award winner Sophie Koko Gate and award-wining animation cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett, along with a new video interview with Mexican animator and director Nayelli Ojeda, following up on her wonderful talk at Waterside back in March.

The event schedule will be published here soon.

About Our Speakers

Em Cooper

Em Cooper is a British artist and film director working in oil-paint animation and film.

She is interested in subjectivity. Her oil-painted film practice has developed in answer to a desire to express the sensation of lived-experience. Her interest is in approaching what it feels like to be alive in the world, making representation into expression, or part of a passing moment of sensation.

She is the 2024 winner of the Grammy for Best Music Video, for her oil-painted video for The Beatles, I’m Only Sleeping, commissioned in 2022 for their re-release of Revolver.

In 2018 she was nominated for an Emmy for her collaboration with poet and activist DJ Savarese, in the film Deej. Her installation work includes Emergence, an immersive artwork and collaboration with composer Jim Perkins for the Turner Contemporary Margate. In 2024 she was commissioned to create two sequences for the movie Paddington in Peru.

More

Instagram @em.cooper.studio

Lizzy Hobbs

Elizabeth Hobbs is a traditional animator with a background in artist’s books and printmaking. Her films are made under a rostrum camera, and in the production of her animated films she has used relief print on 35mm film, butterfly prints, images created with a typewriter, paint on a bathroom tile, collage and paint and ink on paper. The films are often based on historical figures or literary adaptations and they’re sometimes funny or rude. Elizabeth likes to share her process and techniques through workshops, masterclasses and lecturing. Elizabeth is senior tutor on the Directing Animation MA at The National Film & Television School, and Associate Lecturer on the MA in Animation at London College of Communication.

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Instagram @hobbslizzy

Sophie Koko Gate

Sophie is a South London based animation director. Her films burst with electric colors and squishy suggestive imagery. Usually following a cast of eccentric characters, Koko Gate weaves comical stories of interpersonal relationships set in her fantastic surreal worlds. Never shying away from themes of sexuality, Koko Gate’s work is interested in femininity, the body, pleasure, and love. Her style combines flat digital graphics with airbrush textures to arrive at a unique playful aesthetic that is instantly recognizable. Outside of her personal work, she is repped by Blink Ink in London and Roof Studio in NYC for freelance work. She was a 2018 ADC Young Gun, and her most recent film Slug Life won awards at Ottawa Animation Festival, Vienna Shorts, SXSW, GLAS, and will screen at Sundance 2020.

More

Instagram @sophiekoko

Nayelli Ojeda

Nayelli is a Mexican director and stop motion artist whose work explores the poetic relationship between humanity and nature. She blends animation, fine art and environmental sensitivity to craft visually immersive narratives.

She trained in animation and further developed her stop-motion practice through specialised programs across Mexico, the United States and Canada. Her work as an animation director has been selected and supported by international development platforms such as Talents Guadalajara (Berlinale), Bogotá International Film Festival (Colombia) and Animarkt (Poland).

Nayelli is the founder of Wisdom House Films, an independent creative studio dedicated to stop motion and experimental storytelling. With the support of Mexico’s national film fund IMCINE/FOCINE, the studio produced her stop motion short film Yugen, a piece crafted from Mexican ceramics and inspired by the natural world.

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Instagram @wisdomhousefilms

Dave Alex Riddett

Award-winning cinematographer Dave Alex Riddett BSC has been involved with Aardman Animations since the mid 1980s.

He has worked as Director of Photography on all of Nick Parks' celebrated Films since the 'Wrong Trousers' as well as many 'Shaun the Sheep" projects, countless short films , commercials and the Netflix xmas special 'Robin Robin".

More

Instagram @davealexriddett

Note: Both Lizzy Hobbs and Em Cooper feature in Waterside’s new animation exhibition, Camera Obscura (24th Oct 26 - 11th Jan 27). Full details here.

Calling all budding writers looking to work in TV comedy and drama. CIT offers a unique opportunity to meet commissioners and script producers working in television.

Tickets £20

Book online here or call 0161 912 5616

This is a fantastic opportunity to meet current NW based producers to find out about:

- Commissioning

- What production companies are looking for from writers

- How to approach them and work as a writer in television

The panel will discuss how to get your work to commissioners, current trends within the industry, who to target and how to reach them with your scripts.

The discussion features a question and answer format to ensure that you get the chance to put your queries to the panel.

Speakers’ details will be announced soon.