One of the most overlooked creative and business segments in Silicon Alley is animation, and that's something Clay Shirky is working to change. He's the guy behind the Animator's Ball, slated for March 5 in New York City. I chatted with Shirky at the last World Wide Web Artists Consortium meeting and at Emily Davidow's comfy BeHome headquarters two days later and got an enthusiastic description of his plans for organizing the animation community.
Shirky has registered his company, AniFest Destiny, as a not-for-profit to produce the Ball, stating in its manifesto that the company: "is dedicated to the proposition that the Internet is a good medium for distributing and displaying animation. They will seek out animation and animators working in non-traditional formats and bring them into contact with each other and
with their potential audience."
Sounds great -- a room full of animators in the real world, exchanging ideas, especially those related to using the Internet as a way to distribute or display animation. "Our overall goal is to increase the quality of animation available over the Web without regard to its immediate commercial applications," says Shirky.
Animators are invited to contribute animations for display during the party which will continue to live on the Web site. The party aims to highlight the depth and breadth of animation work currently going on, and to introduce animators to each other, new work, the experts, and to new tools and formats. Clay hopes this event will "focus future communications within and between this community."
http://www.animatorsball.org
(Appeared originally in @The Scene in the @NY newsletter)
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