Presenting Sponsor: Mayworks Halifax Festival of Working People & the Arts

FREE

What challenges do independent animators face finding funding for their work, conveying their visions to producers, and scrounging for the time needed to make films frame by frame? What supports are available from arts organizations, and how can we put our heads together to improve living and working conditions? This panel features special guests Michael Fukushima, Executive Producer of the National Film Board’s Animation Studio in Montreal; laura jeanne lefave, Program Officer at the Canada Council for the Arts, and award-winning independent animators Steven Woloshen and Sam Decoste.

Sam Decoste is an independent animator, curator, and educator who believes in the power of stories. This year Decoste is the curator and mentor of the four-person installation project entitled Under the Rug.

Michael Fukushima is the head of the National Film Board of Canada’s world-renowned Animation Studio, in Montreal. He has been making films since 1984, and joined the NFB Animation Studio in 1990.

laura jeanne lefave is Program Officer for the Explore and Create program of the Canada Council for the Arts. Lefave is a dedicated champion of the arts who assists artists, curators, and organizations through information sessions and grant-writing workshops across the country.

Steven Woloshen has created over 50 abstract films and time-based installations for festivals, galleries and museums.