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Animated Women UK Launches ‘Achieve Online 2020’ Workshops

Career development workshop series aimed at supporting women in UK’s VFX and animation industries continues June 5.

Animated Women UK, the organization supporting women in the UK’s VFX and animation industries, has announced a series of online workshops in June, aimed at helping members achieve their career goals. The next, ‘Confidence and Getting Your Voice Heard,’ will run Friday, June 5.

These highly interactive workshops will use virtual break-out spaces to allow participants to workshop ideas and receive feedback in small, supportive groups. They’ll also include a “surgery” where AWUK members can discuss difficult work challenges.

These stand-alone workshops will all be delivered via Zoom.
https://www.animatedwomenuk.com/animated-women-achieve-online/

The workshops, which are open to AWUK members at all levels of experience, are supported by ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund with contributions from UK animation productions.

Two of the workshops have been adapted from the most popular sessions of AWUK’s highly acclaimed Helen North Achieve Program. “Confidence and Getting Your Voice Heard,” scheduled for Friday, June 5, will include guidance on how to get heard in dailies and start building a mindset to overcome “imposter syndrome.” The “Impact and Building the Brand You” workshop, designed to help participants learn how to define their own ‘personal brand’ and communicate with presence and impact, takes place on Tuesday June 16.

New from workshop leaders, Jan Armstrong and Marianne O’Connor, who have run the AWUK Achieve Program for the last three years, is “Thriving as a Freelance,” scheduled for Thursday, June 18, which will give freelance members the tools to effectively market themselves, as well as build, maintain and manage a network and raise the profile and visibility of what they do.

Armstrong is a coach, facilitator and trainer who specializes in women’s leadership development and helping individuals achieve their full potential. O’Connor is a communications expert and accredited executive coach who has a track record of working with senior and high potential women on how they can develop their personal brand to raise their profile.

AWUK members can apply for any or all of the workshops that are relevant to them via Eventbrite. Each workshop runs from 4pm to 5:30pm BST and costs just £25, thanks to the support of ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund.

Louise Hussey, Co-Chair, VFX, Animated Women UK, commented, “We’re excited to be hosting our first ever online workshops, thanks to the support of ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund. These sessions will give AWUK members who are social distancing the tools to thrive in their careers, whether they are normally studio or office-based or working from home. We think they will particularly appeal to time-constrained members and those living outside London. More AWUK members than ever will be able to easily access our workshops as there’s no need to travel further than your living room with Zoom!”

Hussey went on to say that “Supporting women to reach their full potential and realize their career ambitions is our core mission. While representation of women in our industries has improved, particularly in animation, there’s still some way to go before we’re equally represented in VFX and pay parity is achieved. Building relationships, self-marketing and putting yourself forward for key projects and roles is crucial to career success. Our online workshops are focused on equipping members with the confidence and skills to achieve their career goals.”

Abigail Addison, Animation Production Liaison Executive, ScreenSkills, added, “ScreenSkills is delighted to support Animated Women UK in adapting sessions from the Helen North Achieve Program for online delivery. We’re also thrilled to facilitate the development of new content for workshops on virtual communication and thriving as a freelance. It is thanks to the contributions from UK animation productions to the ScreenSkills Animation Skills Fund that we are able to support initiatives like these workshops which give women wherever they’re based the knowledge and guidance to progress their careers in the animation and VFX industries.”

Annual membership of Animated Women UK costs just £30; click here for more information.

Click here more information, or to apply for the workshops.

Source: Animated Women UK

Dan Sarto's picture

Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.