The Persistence of Animation

Proposals submissions were blind reviewed by a panel organized by Charles daCosta, which included: Tracy Cox-Stanton (Savannah College of Art and Design), Nichola Dobson (Editor, Animation Studies, Edinburgh), Michael Frierson (University of North Carolina at Greensboro), Alessandro Imperato (Savannah College of Art and Design), Mark Langer (Carleton University, Ottawa), and Jay Telotte (Georgia Tech, Atlanta). The results have now been tallied and are being organized into panels.

Acceptance notices will be sent out starting this weekend, with rejection notices to follow. Once those who have been accepted notify us they will actually attend the conference, announcements describing who’s presenting and on what topic, as well as a list of panels, will be posted.

In any case, I would like to thank all the judges for their time and effort in helping to make what looks like will be an exciting conference.

Harvey Deneroff
Conference Coordinator
The Persistence of Animation Conference
SCAD-Atlanta

The Call for Papers was very successful, with over 60 submissions received, of which only slightly more than half were from SAS members. Though the official deadline has past, the Conference Committee will continue to accept proposals with the understanding that they will only be considered after the first round of judging and if there is room on the program.

Given the number of submissions so far, we would expect to have double panels (i.e., 2 running simultaneously) throughout the conference. This would mean that there would be room for at least 40 papers, in addition to the keynote address, screenings and workshops.

As usual, proposals were widely dispersed geographically, coming from Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Israel, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom and United States. (As a number of these are from people who are studying or working abroad, this distribution does not really reflect actual nationalities.)
Of particular interest was the extremely strong showing of the UK and especially Australia. Of the 64 proposals received, 21 were from the US, 15 from the UK and 12 from Australia! I recall when (what is now) the University for the Creative Arts, in Farnham, was planning the first SAS conference in Europe, they expressed considerable anxiety about the lack animation scholars in the UK and how they would have to depend on North Americans to carry the day.

Anyway, the Conference Committee would like to thank everyone who submitted a proposal.

Harvey Deneroff
Conference Coordinator
The Persistence of Animation Conference
SCAD-Atlanta

The Persistence of Animation
21st Society for Animation Studies Conference
Call for Papers

The Society for Animation Studies invites submissions of proposals for individual papers and panels for its 21st Annual Conference, which will be held at the Atlanta campus of the Savannah College of Art and Design, 10-12 July 2009. Founded in 1987, the Society is an international membership organization that supports and encourages animation scholarship through various means, including its annual conferences. This year’s event will include presentations, workshops, screenings and keynote addresses. In addition, there will be an exhibit of animation art and documents from the Don Bluth Collection from SCAD’s Jen Library in Savannah.

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Persistence of Animation,” with the aim of encouraging proposals that offer insight into the ways animation permeates our film and television culture, as well as society as a whole. However, papers and pre-constituted panels on all aspects of animation history, theory and criticism are also welcome.

We are particularly interested in proposals for 20-minute papers in the following areas:

• Definitions of animation.
• Case studies of specific animation artists, styles or movements.
• The relationship between live-action and animation filmmaking.
• Animation in visual effects, broadcast design/motion graphics and video games.
• The integration of animated images into social and cultural practices.
• Cross-generational perceptions of animation.
• Animation and cyber space.
• Animation and pedagogy.
• Technology and animation.
• Critical and theoretical approaches to animation history.
• Animation and sequential art (comic strips, graphic novels, etc.).

Each individual paper submission must include the following information:

• Title and abstract of no more than 250 words, plus a 100-word version for publication.
• A biographical statement, up to 100 words, indicating how the proposed paper fits into your overall research agenda and experience.
• A head shot of yourself suitable for publication.
• Complete contact information, including name, institutional affiliation (if any), postal address, e-mail address(es) and telephone number(s).

Alternatively, panel proposals of 3-4 speakers each are also encouraged. The chair of the proposed panel is expected to submit abstracts and contact information for all the panelists. Please include the following information:

• Overall panel title/theme, plus a 100-word description for publication.
• Name and contact information for the panel chair (clearly identified).
• Titles and abstracts for each paper as noted above.
• Biography (100-word) and contact information for each presenter (mail, email, phone).
• Photo of each presenter suitable for publication.

Proposals will be blind reviewed by a panel of SAS members, and acceptance will be announced by 6 February 2009. Please be aware that spaces for paper presentations are limited. Late proposals will not be considered until all other proposals have been read.

Proposals must be submitted as an email attachment, in MS Word or RTF formats to Harvey Deneroff at sasc@scad.edu by 9 January 2009.

Membership in the Society for Animation Studies is required if your proposal is accepted for presentation at the conference. (For more information on the Society, go to its webpage at http://gertie.animationstudies.org.) Financial aid for travel will be available on a limited basis; details will be forthcoming.

The conference is being put on by the SCAD’s Animation Department (located in both Atlanta and Savannah) and its Cinema Studies Department in Savannah. SCAD-Atlanta is located in the city’s Midtown area, convenient to the Woodruff Arts Center (which includes the High Museum of Art), Center for Puppetry Arts and the historic Fox Theater. In addition to Animation and Cinema Studies, SCAD offers programs in such animation-related areas as Broadcast Design and Motion Graphics, Sequential Art (including Storyboarding), Visual Effects, and Interactive Design and Game Development, as well as Film and Television.

For more information, please check our blog: http://blog.scad.edu/sasc/, or contact:

Harvey Deneroff
Animation Professor
Savannah College of Art and Design
1600 Peachtree St., NW
Atlanta, Georgia 30309-2403 USA
+1-404 253-2755 (phone)
+1-404 253-2723 (fax)
+1-404 373-2318 (home)
+1-404 917-9530 (mobile)
sasc@scad.edu
hdenerof@scad.edu.
harvey@deneroff.com

-or-

Charles daCosta
Animation Professor
Savannah College of Art and Design
P.O. Box 2072
Savannah, GA 31402-2072 USA
+1-912 525-8518 (phone)
+1-912 525-8572 (fax)
+1-786 797-4710 (mobile)
charliechristian@gmail.com
cdacosta@scad.edu