Press release: 16 July 2015

DRIVE: participants announced

Animate Projects is pleased to announce the five artists selected for DRIVE, a 10
month creative development programme for UK based artists and animators.
The initiative has been developed with, and is generously supported by,
Jerwood Charitable Foundation, and with public funding by the National Lottery
through Arts Council England.
The DRIVE participants are: Jessica Ashman, Katerina Athanasopoulou,
George Eksts, Sarah Evans and Chris Newby. They represent a range of
practice, with experience across independent animation, art galleries, public art,
online platforms and feature film contexts. With the projects they are planning to
develop, they have set themselves ambitious challenges to take their work in
new and exciting directions. Through DRIVE they will identify the strategic and
practical steps, and access expert support, to help them realise these
proposals.
We received 63 proposals for the five places and the overall quality was
exceptionally high, which we believe evidences the extent and breadth of
contemporary animation practice. We were helped in the selection by artist Roz
Mortimer and co-founder and executive producer of Film Club productions, Sue
Loughlin.
The DRIVE blogs will be live soon at accelerateanimation.com. In the meantime,
you can get updates about our programme at Facebook.com/AnimateProjects
and on Twitter @AnimateObserver. You can subscribe to our newsletter at
animateprojects.org
- Ends -

Notes to Editors:
DRIVE participant biographies
Jessica Ashman
Jessica works as a freelance animator and modelmaker. Now based in London, she studied
animation at the University of Lincoln and graduated with an MA in Animation from the Royal
College of Art, London in 2014.
Her commercial clients have included the BBC, Channel 4. Her film Fixing Luka (2011),
commissioned by Digicult, was screened at over 30 international festivals and won the BAFTA
Scotland Award for Best Animation. She was selected to take part in the Berlinale Talent
Campus (2011) and was one of Encounters Festival's Future Encounters names to watch.
jessla.co.uk
www.vimeo.com/jessla
Katerina Athanasopoulou
Katerina is an animation artist living and working in London. She studied painting at the School
of Fine Arts, Aristotle University in Thessaloniki and has an MA in Animation from the Royal
College of Art in London. She teaches at London College of Communication and the Royal
College of Art. Katerinas work has been shown extensively at international film festivals and
galleries. In 2013 she won the Lumen Prize for digital art for her film Apodemy. Commissions
include work for Animate Projects, SHOWStudio (1914 Now) and the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation commissioned project The Art of Saving a Life.
kineticat.co.uk
www.vimeo.com/katerinath
George Eksts
George is an artist, working with video, photography, sculpture and printmaking. He has a BA in
Photography from Falmouth College of Arts and an MA in Printmaking from the Royal College of
Art (2011). He was selected for New Contemporaries (2012); exhibitions include Hayward Gallery
and University of Hertfordshire Galleries and Fondation Ecureuil, Toulouse. George is
represented by TINTYPE, London.
cargocollective.com/eksts
www.vimeo.com/user686265
Sarah Evans
Sarah Evans works mainly in drawing, animation, site-responsive installation and performance.
She studied Fine Art at Reading University and has an MFA from Winchester School of Art. She
is Co-Founder and Artist-Director of Aid & Abet, producing a varied programme of exhibitions
and events from a project space in Cambridge and nationally.
sarahevans.net
www.vimeo.com/album/3436137
Chris Newby
Chris studied at Leeds Polytechnic and the Royal College of Art. His films include The Old Man
of the Sea (1989, ACGB/C4), Relax (1991, BFI/Channel 4) - winner of the Teddy Award at Berlin
Film Festival and the feature Anchoress (1993), selected for Cannes Film Festival. Chris made
five short films to accompany five radio plays Dickens In London, commissioned as part of
Dickens 2012 by Film London and Radio 4. He was commissioned by Animate Projects in 2010
to make An Odd Little Opus for the online magazine, APEngine.org.
www.vimeo.com/user13028080/

About Animate Projects

Animate champions experiment in animation. Our mission is to engage the public with the
creativity and craft of this critically under-represented art form and we achieve this through
developing new work, supporting artists to create thought provoking projects, engaging with
audiences across digital and physical contexts, maintaining an extensive online archive and
resource, advocacy and promoting critical debate.
The Animate Collection is an online resource of over 240 films along with essays and interviews,
and includes works by many key figures in contemporary British animation, visual and digital
arts, including the films produced for the Arts Council England/Channel 4 animate! scheme
(1990 2007). The site has 500,000 unique visitors annually; 200,000 people engaged with our
work at galleries and festivals across the UK and internationally last year. We also coordinate
Animation Alliance UK. www.animateprojects.org
About Jerwood Charitable Foundation
Jerwood Charitable Foundation is dedicated to imaginative and responsible revenue funding of
the arts, supporting artists to develop and grow at important stages in their careers. The aim of
its funding is to allow artists and arts organisations to thrive; to continue to develop their skills,
imagination and creativity with integrity. It works with artists across art forms, from dance and
theatre to literature, music and the visual arts.
For more information visit www.jerwoodcharitablefoundation.org

Animate Projects programme 2015 - 2016

Animate OPEN: Parts & Labour
The second Animate OPEN will present works selected from an international call in a gallery
exhibition at QUAD in Derby, online and as a cinema touring programme. During the exhibition
there will be a related engagement programme, an Animator in Residence will make work at
QUAD during the exhibition, and a publication will be launched including commissioned texts.
The Parts & Labour theme explores the idea of animation as something that is made and crafted
whether physically or digitally - and the cultural importance of the artist and maker. We are
looking for works that explore, question, celebrate, subvert or confound our expectations.
Move It
An exhibition development programme, establishing a network of programmers, exhibitors,
animators and audience anyone interested in creative animation and getting it seen. It
comprises four new touring programmes: selected works from the Animate OPEN, celebrating
25 Years of the McLaren Award for British Animation, childrens animation and animated
documentary. Our partners include: Centre for the Moving Image/Edinburgh International Film
Festival, Edinburgh; QUAD, Derby; FACT, Liverpool; Dundee Contemporary Arts; Flatpack
Festival, Birmingham; Animated Documentary.
Animate OPEN and Move It are supported by the This Way Up Exhibition Innovation Fund, a
partner of the BFI Film Audience Network and using public funding by the National Lottery
through Arts Council England.
Silent Signal
Through six creative collaborations, artists partner scientists to make experimental animations
that explore the networked worlds of organic communication. Our collaborators are:
boredomresearch and Dr Paddy Brock; Ellie Land and Dr Peter Oliver; Genetic Moo and Dr Neil
Dufton; Samantha Moore and Dr Serge Mostowy; Eric Schockmel and Dr Megan MacLeod;
Charlie Tweed and Dr Darren Logan. Silent Signal will be shared via a number of events,
workshops and exhibitions in 2016. Partners include QUAD, Derby, Vivid Projects, Birmingham,
Imperial College London and Central Saint Martins, London.
Supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Garfield Weston Foundation.
www.silentsignal.org

Drive
A ten month development programme for artists and animators, supporting them to further their
practice and to develop craft, creative and business skills. Supported by Jerwood Charitable
Foundation and using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.
Animations for Into the Little Hill R&D
In partnership with London Sinfonietta, we will be working with animators to develop ideas and
new work to accompany a contemporary opera. Supported using public funding by the National
Lottery through Arts Council England

Contact:
Chris Swann
chris@animateprojects.org
Abigail Addison
abigail@animateprojects.org
+44 (0)7789 686 903
Gary Thomas
gary@animateprojects.org
+44 (0)7905 742 319
animateprojects.org
@AnimateProjects / @AnimateObserver
Facebook.com/AnimateProjects