BCFE BA Animation Graduates join Kidscreen Mentorship Programme

20 new graduates of the BA Animation programme at Ballyfermot College are taking part in newly launched, international Mentorship Programme from Kidscreen

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.

Participating Schools

Schools participating in phase one are:

California Institute of Arts (US),  

Sheridan College (Canada),

 Gobélins—L’École de L’Image (France), 

Ballyfermot College & Institute of Art, Design and Technology (Ireland) and

The Animation Workshop (Denmark).

Ballyfermot students participating in phase one are: Emma Brinck, Patrick Naughton, Lauren O’Sullivan, Emma Cummins, and Rose Telford.

Mentors

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

So all in all this has been a great year for BCFE already despite Covid and the level 5 lockdown.