The award-winning stop-motion studio’s academy inks 5-year agreement with the New Zealand university, making it the country’s only school to offer animation students training with stopmo curriculum.
The Aardman Academy has teamed up with New Zealand’s University of Canterbury (UC) in a five-year exclusive agreement that makes the school the only one in the country to specialize in teaching Aardman’s stop-motion animation curriculum. Animation students in the school's Bachelor of Digital Screen with Honors program will receive training in their chosen specialty and directly from industry leaders.
Aardman, the Academy Award-winning animation studio behind Wallace and Gromit, Shaun the Sheep and Morph, created the academy at a time when it was in desperate need of more animators to produce Chicken Run. The academy has since trained hundreds of world-class animators, directors, model makers, and others globally.
“It’s incredibly exciting to welcome the University of Canterbury as an educational partner with the Aardman Academy,” said Aardman Academy head Mark Simon Hewis. “Canterbury is our first and only educational partner in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, so our relationship and activities in the coming years are even more special. We can’t wait to get going with world-leading animation insight, support, and learning from our Aardman staff and Aardman Academy team.”
The collaborative agreement came to fruition through Kōawa, a University of Canterbury initiative that aspires to co-create the future of the global screen and creative technology industries through collaboration, innovation, and education. The initiative provides students with regular access and exposure to partners like Aardman and provides program graduates with skills needed to work in these global industries.
University of Canterbury Vice-Chancellor Professor Cheryl de la Rey added, “As a university committed to accessible, flexible, and future-focused education, we’re delighted to be working with the Aardman Academy, who bring to our students over 40 years of experience and innovation.”
Source: Aardman
Debbie Diamond Sarto is news editor at Animation World Network.
