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Working from Home in the Animation Industry

Working from Home in the Animation Industry

Jun 5, 2020 |

The CG industry has been working from home for nearly an entire quarter. In our follow-up to the “Working from Home in VFX” discussion, representatives from three animation studios will share their experiences with the transition to working from home as well as the long-term effects the pandemic may have on the industry.

 The “Working from Home in Animation Industry” panel will take place on Thursday, June 11 at 2 PM EDT / 11AM PDT and be moderated by Jessica Glass, Production Technology Department Manager, DNEG. Jessica will be leading the discussion with the following panellists:

  • Chuck Peil, EVP Strategic Partnerships, ReelFX Animation Studios
  • Ken Zorniak, CEO, President and Producer, Tangent Animation
  • Troy Broos, VP Technology, WildBrain Studios

To register for the event go to: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/acm-siggraph-webinar-working-from-home-in-animation-tickets-108501422676

ACM SIGGRAPH Webinar: Working from home in VFX

ACM SIGGRAPH Webinar: Working from home in VFX

May 18, 2020 |

We are launching the first online event of the new ACM SIGGRAPH Webinar series. This panel is about challenges of working from home in VFX.

About this Event

ACM SIGGRAPH: Fostering Inclusion Through Storytelling

ACM SIGGRAPH: Fostering Inclusion Through Storytelling is a new initiative to foster inclusion by learning from the experiences of others. We will have regular online presentations year round. Our first few presentations will address issues resulting from the world wide pandemic. Our first event will stream live on May 21st at 2PM EDT/11AM PDT and be available for later viewing on the siggraph.org web site.

Working From Home In VFX

Our first event will be a panel covering issues faced by companies in the VFX industry adapting to employees working from home. Joining us are representatives from three major visual effects studios to share their experiences and discuss the challenges they faced when transitioning to our new reality.

The panel will be moderated by Troy Brooks, VP Technology, Wildbrain. Troy will be leading the discussion with the following panelists:

  • Michael Ford, VP of Systems Engineering and Software Development, Sony Pictures Imageworks
  • Luke Groves, Global Head of Production, MR. X
  • More to be announced!

Come join us online on Thursday May 21st and don’t miss out on this exciting panel!

WallBreakers Community Provides Conversations with Technologists

Mar 31, 2020 |

Hi WallBreakers community,

We have two conversations with technologists and industry leaders coming up for you this week.

On Wednesday, April 1st at 6pm Mountain Time, which is 5pm Pacific, and 8pm Eastern, join guest speakers Laura Romero and Nowai Matthew for office hours.

On Thursday, April 2nd at 3pm Mountain Time, which is 2pm Pacific, and 5pm Eastern, join Andrea Guendelman and guest speaker Jumoke Dada for an AMA.

Link to participate for both conversations: https://zoom.us/j/458668314

Wednesday, April 1st AMA

Laura and Nowai will be available for conversation, questions, and discussion on April 1st at 6pm Mountain Time, which is 5pm Pacific, and 8pm Eastern. Link to participate: https://zoom.us/j/458668314

 Nowai Matthew is a Purdue University graduate who majored in computer graphics technology, minored in electronic time-based art and earned a concentration in web development. Her education also included studies in computer graphics at the University of Darmstadt in Germany. Nowai’s areas of expertise include software development, e-commerce, and technical leadership. She is the former Director of Women Who Code for the Denver/Boulder area. In that role, she organized JavaScript study groups and worked to reach out to women and encourage them to learn coding languages. Nowai is currently an Engineering Manager at Bonusly.

Laura Romero is a recent Northeastern university graduate currently working as a Software Engineer at Affirm. Laura earned a Bachelor’s degree in computer science and cognitive psychology and was involved with both the Latin American Student Organization and NU Women in Technology during her academic career. She has also volunteered in the poverty alleviation and volunteer coordination spaces and worked on research in the areas of software engineering, HCI, UI/UX, and linguistics.             

Thursday, April 2nd AMA

Andrea Guendelman and guest speaker Jumoke Dada will be providing advice regarding entrepreneurship and answering questions on April 2nd at 3pm Mountain Time, which is 2pm Pacific, and 5pm Eastern.

Link to participate: https://zoom.us/j/458668314

Jumoke Dada is a visionary and techie who is passionate about educating and empowering women in tech. With over 15 years of experience working in corporate I.T., as the owner of Signature RED she provides technology consulting services to companies and creates tools for women in tech. Two of her creations include the Tech Women Network – an online platform for women with technical skills – and the HUE Tech Summit for women of color. She is also an international public speaker and tech contributor for ForbesWomen. To learn more visit dadaverse.org or follow her @jumokedada on Twitter.

Andrea Guendelman is a tech entrepreneur, advocate for equality, and thought leader on Latinx career building with a long track record of supporting and creating pathways for individuals underrepresented in technology. Andrea has worked to help to change the status quo with her consultancy for elite universities and her involvement in BeVisible, a community and social media career platform for Latinx individuals. Her latest effort in the diversity advocacy space is with WallBreakers, a training and employment development program for those who are underrepresented in tech.            

Copyright © 2020 wallbreakers, All rights reserved.

List of Resources to Help the SIGGRAPH Production and Artist Communities

Mar 31, 2020 |

This page is a list of resources that we have assembled to help our production and artist communities find support and resources as we all work through these terribly challenging times.   We apologize in advance for the lack of geographic diversity listed here.  We plan to update this list on a regular basis so if locate reliable and useful resources that are of interest to our global community, if you can share them with us at dir-communications@siggraph.org we will seek to add them to this page.

Grow your skillset:

Financial Help:

Resources for Business Owners, Entrepreneurs and Freelancers

Reel and Portfolio Hosting

Get your portfolio/demo-reel on-line (and don’t forget to connect it to your Linked-in site)

Mental Health Help

Additional Sites of Interest

(We are not endorsing nor able to guarantee the quality of the information on these sites so please approach with some discretion):

Call for Nominations for ACM SIGGRAPH Early Career Development Chair

Feb 5, 2020 |

The Early Development Chair will organize the student services and early career committee plans, develops, and facilitates activities that bring additional year round value to the student members, and emerging professionals of ACM SIGGRAPH through integration with the SIGGRAPH community and career development year round. Activities include managing the mentoring program, XSV, and facilitating portfolio/reel/statement reviews. The committee will provide best practices for advising and supporting SIGGRAPH community members in the early stages of their careers.

The SIGGRAPH Executive Committee has set as one of its primary goals the support of our members throughout their careers through mentoring, lifelong learning, and professional development both in the research and practitioner areas. Since these tasks are interconnected, the different committees should work together and with the conferences to achieve their goals. For example, the Early Career Development Committee should work with the Lifelong Learning Committee and Professional Development Committee to ensure that materials appropriate for people early in their careers are developed.

The Chair must put in a budget request to the EC every January and submit an annual report in June. The Chair can expect to spend 5-10 hours/week on the committee activities. 

For those interested in applying for this position, please contact Rebecca Strzelec. Provide a CV and vision statement (why you’re interested in being chair and what you hope to accomplish in that role). The Nominations Committee will review all the candidates and make recommendations to the ACM SIGGRAPH Executive Committee.

Applications will be accepted until the position is filled. All applications received by March 1 will receive full consideration.

We intend to fill the position by June 1 to allow an orderly transition. The position will begin September 1 and run for a three year term with the possibility of renewal for an additional three years.