AEF Sixth Annual Faculty Grants

(Burbank, California, August 8th, 2022 - The International Animated Film Society/ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum has awarded its Sixth Annual Faculty Grants to Colleen Montgomery (Rowan University), Tabitha Fisher (Sheridan College), and Sheila Sofian (University of Southern California).

The Animation Educators Forum Faculty Grant program is “designed to provide support for individuals or groups with reasonable expenditures associated with research, scholarly activity or personal creative projects in the field of animation,” and is open to both full- and part-time animation faculty at accredited post-secondary institutions around the world.

Applicant projects covered a variety of original projects including short films, experimental animated documentaries, and scholarly efforts. The Selection Committee selected three projects that stood out above the rest this year. ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum is proud to announce the winners of the 2022 Faculty Grants:

Colleen Montgomery, Assistant Professor at Rowan University, New Jersey, USA, was given an award to support ongoing research for her in progress scholarly monograph, Animated Voices: Vocal Performance in Disney and Pixar Feature Animation. Adopting an interdisciplinary
approach, this book examines the historical, industrial, transnational, and gendered dynamics of vocal performance in Disney and Pixar feature animation from the late 1930s to the present.

Tabitha Fisher, full-time faculty member at Sheridan College, Toronto, Canada, was awarded funds to pursue further development of the Pre-Production phase for a 3-minute animated rock-
opera about populist bro-culture titled Hey Men with a specific focus on the composition and recording of the music and the completion of an animatic. Inspired by theatrical improv comedy sketch-writing, the project will incorporate the design of an accessible short film pipeline that empowers collaboration in a way that borrows from the early days of animation, where
cooperative workflows were common, to then update the process for the modern digital workflow.

Sheila Sofian, Professor at the University of Southern California, California, USA, was awarded funds to support the completion of her work-in-progress documentary animation film, Disabled. "Disabled" is an animated documentary exploring the affect Multiple sclerosis (MS) has had on
Terry and her husband/caregiver, Jon. Disabled examines the topic of disability rights, inaccessible public spaces, negative attitudes of people towards disability, and policies that hinder the involvement of the disabled population in our society. Physical and attitudinal barriers
are investigated and brought to light.

The Selection Committee thanks all those who applied and encourages those who were not funded this time to do so again next year.
ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s first and foremost professional organization dedicated to promoting the Art of Animation and celebrating the people who create it. Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, the largest chapter of the international ASIFA organization, supports a range of animation activities and preservation efforts through its membership. Current initiatives include the Annie Awards, Animation Archive, Animation Aid Foundation, animated film preservation,
special events, scholarships and screenings, as well as the Animation Educators Forum.

Monika Salter
Chair, AEF Faculty Grants Committee