Leadership and Diversity Must Go Hand-in-Hand, Say Panelists At WIA Summit

variety.com:

Ben Croll The path to a more diverse industry would require personal tenacity, professional flexibility and certain key structural changes, panelists at a Women In Animation round-table argued.

Organized as part of a daylong WIA Summit held at the Annecy Animation Festival – and available free of charge on the Women in Animation website – the Monday afternoon panel focused on the diversity from the perspective of leadership, asking what practices and styles could help foster a more equitable field.

First and foremost are the players themselves, which is why the panelists urged prospective talent not to be shy when reaching out to potential employers. “Our biggest challenge is finding the artwork,” said producer Emilie Walmsley. “There’s so much talent [out there] but making that first link is the most difficult place.” As the head of animation at the Paris-based Eddy TV, Walmsley said that remote work could certainly offer greater opportunities to animators of diverse backgrounds and nationalities, but in order to seize such opportunities, said animators would need a greater online presence.

The producers told to applicants to use social media as online portfolio and to cast timidity aside.  “Don’t be afraid to send emails, messages, links to Instagram, because all of our producers are looking for people,” she said. “So the moment you contact us is never badly seen.” Only for those already through the door and working on set, early-career compensation has a pernicious way of stifling diversity around certain class strata as well. “There’s still a glass ceiling, and the queue of people behind me is huge,” said director Anna Ginsburg. “I couldn’t be a director if my mom hadn’t let me live with her for free [when I was