Women in Animation Launches 'Animating Resilience' Programs Amidst Industry Challenges

The nonprofit organisation Women in Animation (WIA) is launching a new campaign named "Animating Resilience: Surviving and Thriving in an Uncertain Industry" in response to the difficult environment within the animation industry. This extensive set of courses is intended to provide professionals the tools they need to adapt, succeed, and generally be happy. Additionally, WIA is enhancing its online job resource centre by adding crucial data specially geared to its unemployed members, instructive video material, and a recruiter directory.

Marge Dean, the president of WIA, highlighted alarming projections showing that up to 30% of the Los Angeles animation workforce is now unemployed in a letter distributed to its members on August 7, 2023. Even before the writers' and actors' strikes started, Dean bemoaned the significant project cuts made by major streaming services. Projects were abruptly stopped, often just before they were about to be finished, and whole animation sections were dissolved, she emphasised. Within Netflix Animation, notable casualties included layoffs and the abandonment of projects like "Pearl," the brainchild of Meghan Markle.

The animation business has seen its fair share of ups and downs, but Dean recognised that the present instability has been particularly stormy because of the huge influence of streaming services and other growing industry actors. She added that because of how much output increased, a future drop was unavoidable, which prompted a "course correction."

At the same time, Dean voiced his worry over what he believed to be an attack on government initiatives to promote diversity, fairness, and inclusion. She emphasised the need to protect these efforts and make sure that all companies prioritise diversity, fairness, and inclusion as essential to the sector's overall success. Dean pointed out that groups like WIA and Black N' Animated play a significant role in this respect, serving as important champions for these principles.

Dean was also worried about the effect it would have on specific industry sectors. She emphasised that the most helpless members of the community, such as newbies to the sector and seasoned veterans who have worked their way up to higher income categories, could suffer the most. Dean also emphasised the difficulties encountered by those making a comeback to the workforce, especially mothers and carers.

Dean emphasised the significance of equitable sharing in the benefits of their labour in his appeal for support for working professionals. She emphasised that because wage equity and job accessibility are at the centre of the labour movement, this problem is inextricably linked to larger equity battles. While Dean was aware that the business might not yet be at its lowest point, she optimistically looked ahead, seeing a situation with more shows getting the green light, more job prospects, and a better working environment. The sector would ultimately recover, she acknowledged, even if the post-pandemic world might never exactly match its pre-pandemic status. Dean urged everyone to endure through the difficulties they would face until better times came.