Animation Salon May 28

ASIFA-Hollywood's Animation Educators Forum will be hosting its tenth salon, this time with animation industry veteran Tom Sito on Thursday, May 28, 2026, at 6pm PST on Zoom.

By the 1980s, animated cartoons were seen as an art form in decline, an archaic vestige of the old Hollywood studio system. Yet a decade later, animation was booming: blockbuster movies and TV shows, interactive games and special effects extravaganzas all generating billions of dollars. What happened? It is a story of generations.

Tom Sito, a veteran Hollywood animator who went through it all, takes us deep inside the studio corridors to watch the birth of Roger and Jessica, Bart and Lisa, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Mario and many others. Animation author and producer Jerry Beck will serve as host and moderator.

As a 50-year veteran of the animation industry, Sito worked on everything from Scooby-Doo to The Lion King. He is Professor of Animation at University of Southern California, former governor of the Motion Picture Academy, and the author of several books. In 1998, Animation Magazine called Tom "a key figure in the Disney Animation Renaissance."

Jerry Beck is a writer, animation producer, college professor, and author of more than fifteen books on animation history. He is a former studio exec with Nickelodeon Movies and Disney and has written for The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. Beck is currently on the faculty of CalArts, UCLA, and Woodbury University.

To join us, click on the link below:

Topic: AEF Salon #10: A Personal Journey through the Toon Renaissance of the 1990s with Tom Sito

Time: May 28, 2026 06:00 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81881511353?pwd=KYc5lQVUaYitxpO2IyvzX8yymaxcC1.1

Meeting ID: 818 8151 1353
Passcode: 496833