Leading cartoon studio, Basement Animation in collaboration with the British Council has awarded £2,000 grants to each of the 10 animation entrepreneurs who took part in the Creative Enterprise Support Programme that was rounded off recently in Lagos. The grants are to help develop their businesses.
60 CESP participants got into the two-week intensive animation business training programme, out of which 30 were selected for the mentorship and coaching stage, where they worked in six groups of five to create short films on the theme, “Body and Soul”. The initiative aimed at helping the creatives to fund their animation businesses was delivered by Basement Animation and UK-based Kate O’Connor Consulting.
“We started with a call over where we had over 600 participants from all over Nigeria. We did a screening to select the top 60 where they just submitted their portfolio work, and answer a few questions from the application. Then when we started with the selected 60, we had a two weeks intensive programme with speakers from UK and Nigeria studios. These were speakers that have been running studios for between 15 and 25 years and they mainly focused on the business of animation.
Johnson expressed the hope that the animation industry in Nigeria is going to be so ready and will burst through on the international scene, adding, “We are sure the participants will take this sector to the next stage of growth. You are phenomenal and I’m sure you are going to create sustainable businesses.”