Hello great people,
It's with great appreciation that I address you, the animation community. As I write this, it's about 290 days to the end of this year's calendar, and I take this opportunity to wish you well for the remainder of the year. As we look ahead, the A3K office took time to reflect on the year 2022 and we saw it fit to share our community’s wins.
In striving to build a cohesive association and animation community at large, 2022 was a year filled with grace. We were bouncing back from the prolonged effects of the Covid-19 pandemic and businesses started sprouting back to life, not only in our sector but the entire value chain within the creative economy.
Last year, we celebrated several achievements ranging from exhibiting at the 5th Kalasha International market at our own outstanding Animation Pavillion to some A3K office members undergoing governance training at the Panga Sanaa Building Strong Associations Initiative. To add to our cup of blessings, we held a successful International Animation Day and held A3K’s second animation competition dubbed Imarisha Ubunifu several years after Bursted, the first Animation Competition in 2019.
These wins paved way for our association to serve us all by slowly but surely nurturing and strengthening the animation community
These small wins led to big wins in our pursuit to build and strengthen an association that can serve us all. Looking back we spent a lot of time and burnt several midnight oils all in the spirit of improving and growing the association to make it even stronger. Our vision to foster both local and international collaborations, co-productions, and master classes to further hone our skills will soon come to pass. To do this we will need to work together. You, me, the community, and other stakeholders. Only together shall we raise the creative economy in our region.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the entire A3K office that I serve with for voluntarily being at the forefront ensuring that the animation community grows solidly as one of the key stakeholders in the Kenyan film industry. A leader in the Orange Economy. Additionally, I appreciate all the members who honored the call to serve the association at various industrial engagements throughout 2022.
It is my greatest hope that we keep the spirit of the association alive, go out, and be our ambassadors. Reach out to other animators who are out there alone and bring them into the fold. Let’s get to see more practitioners join the association and together we will build the kind of animation industry we want. Without any further ado, here is a trip back in time to celebrate the year that was, the year 2022.
Thank you all and I wish you well.
Best Regards,
Harto Muhato
A3K Chairman.
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THE 5TH KALASHA INTERNATIONAL FILM AND TV MARKET
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The Kalasha International Film and TV Market is an annual trade fair organized by the Kenya Film Commission with the aim of bringing together film industry stakeholders across the local, regional, and international markets to exchange, collaborate and share stories and insights with the hope of developing new business opportunities.
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The 3-day trade fair themed “Film Business: The Economics of Content Creation in the Digital Era” kicked off on 10th June 2022 at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre (KICC) Tsavo Ballroom, showcasing both film and animation activities, as well as providing robust interactions through exhibitions, workshops, conferences, networking opportunities, and pitching sessions.
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In March this year, the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya (A3K) was among the 10 associations out of 70+ applicants selected to undergo intensive leadership training with the Panga Sanaa Fellowship Program.
In this first cohort of the Panga Sanaa Building Stronger Associations Fellowship, Our association the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya is represented by the vice-chair, Naftally Muriuki, secretary, Emily Nyabere, and treasurer, Dennis Mbuthia. This is a nine months program with four months of intensive training followed by five months of implementation based on the training.
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In line with its mandate of strengthening the industry at all levels, last year the association office and members managed to have three campus tours at various institutions that teach animation in the country to have one-on-one mentorship and engagement with animation students.
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On Saturday the 9th of august 2022, the day was just like any other day. The clock was ticking, the light came in as usual around 6:00 Oclock in the morning and the majority of us had just had a good night's sleep ready for the day ahead of us where we were to have a day off our working desk and go network, interact and share on an offscreen hangout as the majority of us take 14hours+ staring at the screens in their workplace or at home while working.
What made the 9th stand out from any other day was one thing ......
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KELVIN SHANI AT THU MAIN EVENT IN PORTUGAL
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I had always wanted to go to THU (Trojan Horse Was a Unicorn) conference for the longest time. I would see the highlight reels online and wish that one day it would happen. Even before the pandemic year, I had set a goal to save up and make the trip. Business wasn’t that good that year so I skipped it. Little did I know that there was an opportunity on the horizon.
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INTERNATIONAL WORLD ANIMATION DAY KENYA CELEBRATION 2022 (28th October 2022)
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Together with other nations in the world, on the 28th of October 2022, the Kenyan animation community came together to celebrate the art of animation at an event that was held at the United States International University (USIU) Auditorium.
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Themed Beyond the Craft, this great day was marked with great discussions and engagements on various creative, business, and industrial issues pertaining to the art of animation. The Association is grateful to the Kenya Film Commission and USIU Africa for Sponsorship in making this day a reality
Read more about the day on the people daily newspaper feature.
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Read more about the day on the people daily newspaper feature.
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IMARISHA UBUNIFU COMPETITION 2022
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In Marking and Celebrating World Animation Day 2022, the association came up with an animation competition themed the Imarisha Ubunifu Competition. The Onemonth competition which saw participants create animation from provided audio had a good number of entrants with the majority of participants being students and freelance animators.
Initially, the winners of the Imarisha Ubunifu competition were to be announced on world animation day but due to time constraints the announcement of the winners was pushed to 9th December when there was an online screening and the winners of the competition were announced.
Out of all the entrants, Mwendwa Dennis Immerged as 2nd Runners Up with Iko Poa animation video,
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David Omboke was 1st runners up with his animation titled Bottom Up Animation.
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and the overall winner was Bill Munene and Team with their piece Unga Itatoka?
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Being the Second time the association was conducting a competition from the first Bursted Competition which was done in 2014, it was noted that there was a need to have such competition often so as to strengthen collaboration, growth, and exposure of the local animators to the market.
Watch all the entries here: Imarisha Ubunifu Competition Entries
Learn More about the competition here: Imarisha Ubunifu Competition
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TERASTORM: ANDREW KAGGIAS FILM PREMIERE
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On November 24, 2022, Terasrom, the first Kenyan feature animation premiered at Anga Film Diamond Plaza Nairobi. A masterpiece of its kind from Andrew Kaggia a renowned animation and gaming practitioner, Terastorm was the Kenya Official selection of 2022 to the Oscars.
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The Association managed to facilitate all its members to go watch this first feature film animation. Andrew has already set the bar @Animation Community when are we getting the second, third, fourth and fifth Kenyan feature animation?
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FORUM FOR INTERMEDIARIES THE DIGITAL CREATIVE INDUSTRIES IN AFRICA
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The first-ever forum for Intermediaries in the Digital Creative Industries in Africa took place in Johannesburg, South Africa, at the Tshimologong Precinct from 15th – 20th October 2022 as part of the Fak’ugesi African Digital Innovation Festival 2022.
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This was an inter-regional digital creative industries forum where African intermediaries came together to explore the landscape of intermediaries in the Digital Creative Industries in Africa with a special focus on Animation, Gaming, and Immersive Media.
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Emily Nyabere, an association member and secretary presented a paper on Colour Meaning and Context in Africa Animation at the Kenya Animation Space at the Biennial African Association for Rhetoric Conference that took place from 18th - 22nd July 2022
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Dennis Mbuthia the Association Treasurer joins University of Skovde in Sweden to pursue a master in Game Development
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The Association office is grateful to all association members and all community members who honored the call to represent the association in the various industrial/stakeholder events (including and not limited to Kalasha Awards Jury
Imarisha Ubunifu Jury
World Animation Day Panelist
Kalasha Pitching Competition
World Animation Day Committee
Panga Sanaa Dialogue Platform
Oscar Selection Committee Kenya
Panga Sanaa Commissionning Ceremony
Sensitization on the Film Industry Satellite Account)
throughout the year 2022.
2023 is here What will we Achieve?
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OPEN MEMBERSHIP REGISTRATION CALL OUT
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Our, Association the Association of Animation Artistes Kenya is a Membership driven Association open for the membership of creatives and artists who work within the animation sector in our region.
As we strive to create a stronger association and the industry that we want, we would love to invite you to be one of our able members. Our membership model is tied to an annual subscription plan and its sub-categorized into different tiers.
To register
1. Do a direct deposit to
ASSOCIATION OF ANIMATION ARTISTES KENYA
EQUITY BANK: MAMA NGINA BRANCH
ACCOUNT NO: 0150294210336
The membership registration fee is Ksh.3,000 /- for a regular member and Ksh.1,000 /- for a student (proof of student ID must be provided for the latter).
or
2.) Via M-Pesa
Go to Safaricom SIM tool kit
Select M-Pesa
Select Lipa na M-Pesa
Select Pay Bill
Enter Pay Bill number: 247247
Enter Account No: 0150294210336
Enter the Annual registration amount:
Enter your M-Pesa PIN
Upon payment confirmation, send either your deposit slip or Mpesa transaction confirmation message to:
treasurer@animationkenya.co.ke and cc info@animationkenya.co.ke
You will then receive a link to our registration form upon payment verification, which will be used to capture relevant data.
Once your data has been verified, you will receive a membership confirmation email.
*Please note that the Association reserves the right to not approve your registration for any reason it sees fit. In such a case, the membership registration fee will be refunded in full.
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