Increasing Diversity in Animation

I want to talk about increasing diversity in animation and share what I feel my role is and the topics surrounding that.

Representation

• I want to make sure that kids have the opportunity to see someone that looks like them doing the things they want to do. I can inspire kids, no matter what they look like to go into animation, but I want to make sure that little girls and minority kids get to see themselves represented.

Increasing the Diversity in the Diversity

• Sometimes, not all the time, the minorities and women in the animation industry have the same interests as the majority. I want to make the animation industry like other industries where you don't think of one type of person when you think of someone in animation. I want to reach that kid that's not a raving fan of Star Wars; that girl that has never watched anime; or that boy who doesn't want to work at a plant when he gets older.
  

Tell Your Own Story

• Some kids who are inspired by anime or a popular show are creating the same stories in the same styles. Sometimes minorities and girls are drawing only what they see, which is white or male characters. It takes them a while to realize that they are not putting themselves in their own stories. I want to encourage kids to put themselves in the stories so that there is more representation of people from various backgrounds.

Fresh Communities

• There are senior centers all over the country that are looking for activities for senior citizens. I feel like it would be a great idea to figure out how to make animation more palatable so that I could teach a class at a senior center and it not be intimidating to learn.
• Additionally, there's usually a lower age limit that I put on my workshops and classes because it's easier to keep the attention of a certain level of kids, but I think it would be great to figure out how to lower that limit and teach 4 and 5 years animation in a way they can understand!

Providing a Lower Barrier to Entry

• Something that I'm doing now is learning a program called Blender. It is an open-source, free program that anyone can download on their computer. Even though you still need a computer/laptop to download it on, I think with Blender, I can provide an option to students who want to learn animation but can't afford to buy Autodesk Maya, Cinema 4D or some other 3D program. I want to be able to give people of all socioeconomic statuses a chance to have their voice be heard.

Animation Can Be Lucrative

• I want to educate communities about how animation can be a lucrative career. A lot of times people associate animation and other art-related fields with the "starving artist" trope and discourage their children from choosing it as a career. I want to let folks know that there are many options for success between being a professional athlete and being a doctor or a lawyer.

Family and Environment

• I went to the CAC’s Conversation on Comics, Graphic Novels, and Inclusivity and a group of us had the chance to speak with LeSean Thomas, director of Boondocks - Season 1 and 2, about what is keeping black people from entering the industry. He mentioned two things: family and environment.
• A lot of people who don’t have the encouragement of their family to go down a certain career path are not going to do it. There are very few that would push through and do it anyway. Part of this discouragement is from what I mentioned earlier in thinking that animation cannot be lucrative. Parents want to make sure their children are successful adults and can take care of themselves.
• Additionally, sometimes your environment is not conducive to being introduced to animation. Generally, people don’t grow up with an animator as your next door neighbor, so there's just not that exposure. So, there can be that lack of information or it can be that you're an outcast or shunned because you are different. This can result in straying away from certain interests to alleviate bullying.

Diversity Through the Indie Industry

• With platforms like YouTube, Vimeo, Instagram and Snapchat, there are people making a way for themselves without having to get the support of big film and TV studios (or record labels). There are many celebrities who made their start on social media. Through using the indie route, we can flood the market with stories from many different types of people.

Animation as Therapy

• Kids can express themselves about the situations they are living in and what they're going through on a daily basis. Whether it's PTSD from living in a dangerous area, depression, bullying or even having great parents despite your environment, we can give that power to kids to tell their own stories.

Remove the Limitations of Animation

• I don't just have a goal to teach kids animation. I would very much like to teach adults animation as well. I think through exposing more people to animation, the limitations that society has put on animation (being just for kids) can be removed and it can be seen as a medium for all. One of the first introductions of animation, Gerty the Dinosaur, was targeted at adults. Disney and Pixar purposely write their stories so that everyone in the family can enjoy. Animation is not just for kids.

Like Lonzo Ball said, "We push the culture forward, don’t let the culture push us." I believe there are many ways to increase diversity in animation and I want to do my part to make that happen.