NEW YORK-The Canadian Consulate General, in collaboration with the New York City Economic Development Corp. (EDC) and the Quebec Government House, last week presented the CanApple Animation Forum, which was designed to showcase the talents of Canadian and New York-based companies with expertise in design, digital effects and animation. The forum was part of a full-day event, "Sheridan Animates Manhattan," organized by CanApple with Sheridan College, a top animation school based in Oakville, Ontario.
Organizers counted 270 total participants at the afternoon Forum, including 25 exhibiting companies, seven from New York and the remainder from Canada. "We were happy. All of the companies were pleased," said Canadian Consulate General representative Tony Raposo.
Prior to the event, show organizers said representatives from New York-based ad agencies were invited, but, as it turned out, there was no agency attendance, although exhibitors said they did make other valuable contacts. Several VH1 producers, for instance, made the rounds, and representatives from Canada and New York were also on hand to promote business incentives.
The day’s events included two presentations by Sheridan alums Steve "Spaz" Williams, who is repped as a commercial director by Complete Pandemonium, San Francisco; James Straus, animation director at Santa Barbara Studios, Santa Barbara, Calif.; Dennis Turner, animation supervisor at Industrial Light+Magic, and San Rafael, Calif.; Rick Sluiter of Walt Disney Feature Animation, Lake Buena Vista, Fla., who most recently served as art director on Mulan; and Bob Munroe, president/animation director of C.O.R.E. Digital, Toronto.
Their morning master class attracted roughly 400, and an evening showcase at the Museum of Television and Radio brought together 200. Presenters showed their work and shared their insights at both events.
The networking opportunity raised eyebrows in the New York community in recent weeks because EDC was co-sponsoring an event whose goals included generating business in Canada. EDC did not respond to repeated requests from SHOOT for an interview.
