Animators from Guyana and Suriname have been urged to be smart in the business of animation.
This call was made by Assistant Secretary-General, Trade and Economic Integration at the CARICOM Secretariat, Mr. Joseph Cox on Friday last.
The animators from the Guyana Animation Network (GAN) and the Suriname Animation Network (SAN) visited the CARICOM Secretariat on Friday and interacted with Deputy Secretary-General, Ambassador Manorma Soeknandan PhD., Mr. Cox, Deputy Programme Manager, Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Ms. Jennifer Britton, and representatives from the Human Resource Development Directorate.
Mr. Cox told the GAN/SAN that if they wanted to move ahead they had to do so with purpose, dedication and training.
He said being successful would require a long-term commitment and encouraged them to create synergies with other CARICOM countries and to try to access funding from International Development Partners.
His final piece of advice to the animators was to pay attention to copyright so that their ideas and work do not get stolen.
Meanwhile, in her remarks, the Deputy Secretary-General, told the group that the CARICOM Secretariat had been involved in developing the Regional animation industry for quite some time. She said at the time the Secretariat became involved, many persons did not understand the industry or how beneficial it could be.
“In its inception, everyone was uncertain about it but as things grew and got more familiar and people see that, it gets traction and everybody gets on board,” she said.
Ambassador Soeknandan highlighted a number of projects within the CARICOM Secretariat that have focused on the animation industry while encouraging the young people, who hailed from varying backgrounds including the legal profession and aviation industry, that whatever they did they should do it well.
In the discussion which followed, the animators said that they were involved in a number of initiatives including the production of an animation piece for the Animae Caribe Animation and Digital Media Festival which will be held in Port-of-Spain Trinidad and Tobago in October.
They said that large-scale training was the next step for Regional animators and requested support from organizations such as the CARICOM Secretariat.
They also spoke of a proposal to the CARICOM Member States to assist with bringing in the experts to do an initial training programme from which a training of trainers programme would be developed.
The animators are working to build the synergies with other CARICOM Member States, including Jamaica as was suggested to them by ASG Cox in his remarks.
