Next week the Governor-General’s I Believe Initiative (IBI) will embark on the final leg of animation training for youth at the county level in Jamaica. The Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication (CARIMAC), at the University of the West Indies Mona, Western Jamaica Campus (UWI-WJC), will host the IBI’s County of Cornwall workshop from July 22 – 26. Director of CARIMAC, Professor Hopeton Dunn expressed his delight in partnering with the IBI. He stated that it forms part of a wider and deeper engagement of CARIMAC in the field of animation as it relates to skills building and employment opportunities within Jamaica and the Caribbean.
The five-day training course is fruit of IBI’s partnership with the University of the West Indies, Canada’s Toon Boom Animation and Jamaica’s GSW Animation. Each workshop participant will receive basic training in manipulating the Toon Boom Animation Harmony software under the guidance of Facilitator and Animator Robert Reid. CARIMAC was eager to offer its cutting-edge facilities to youth in order for them to take advantage of this training.
Governor-General Sir Patrick Allen has stated his confidence that this series of training sessions would help prepare talented Jamaican youth for the rapidly increasing employment opportunities, in an industry which already has a global value in excess of US$200 billion. He said: “Our youth must get ready for a large slice of that multi-billion dollar pie!”
Participants who emerge among the top five performers at the end of each of the three county-based workshops will receive an additional benefit. Based on a commitment from Toon Boom Animation’s CEO, Ms. Joan Vogelesang, her company will train the fifteen top performers from Cornwall, Middlesex and Surrey to international certification levels. A closing ceremony will be held on Friday July 26 where the participants will be awarded, with representatives of the IBI, CARIMAC and UWI-WJC in attendance.