THE Guyana Animation Network (GAN) will feature training in animation, specifically targeting Guyanese youth, at its fourth annual summer camp.

President of the Guyana Animation Network (GAN), Francine Leitch, told the Guyana Chronicle that animation is a growing industry in the Caribbean and worldwide and it is imperative Guyanese ready themselves for available opportunities.

GAN, she explained, is focused on fostering an environment where digital media and specifically animation, can be learnt and promoted.

Over the past few years, the body has been promoting the development of skills in the creative sector.

“What we realised when we were preparing to do our first summer camp (four years ago) was that persons were not aware of what animation entails, the scope of animation and all that it entails,” Leitch explained.

Resultantly, Leitch noted that the network decided that it needed to develop a foundation in the creative field as a prerequisite to developing animation in Guyana. This foundation encompassed creating awareness on what animation is and entails, and the scope it could have as an industry.

Moreover, it becomes pertinent for persons to learn the “building blocks”, according to Leitch, who explained that it was for this reason that the three camps held in the years prior featured: traditional art, digital illustrating and then, last year, comic art.

“This year, when we thought that we had done enough of the foundation, especially for the persons coming through from the previous years, we thought it was time to introduce animation,” she said.

GAN would usually conduct an online poll to determine what persons wanted the summer camp to focus on, and coincidentally, animation was favoured.

This is being offered to participants from as young as five years old, all the way to persons 35 years old. It is the aim of the network to train the local participants in animation by fusing traditional and digital technologies to create simulated environments and products that reflect a ‘digital Guyana’.

The training will run from July 15 to 20, 2019 from 10:00 hrs to 14:00 hrs daily, at the University of Guyana (UG), Turkeyen Campus.

As part of the summer camp, several experts will be coming to Guyana to train Guyanese youth for the one-week period.

Moving forward, GAN would like to focus on game design, a buildup from animation.

“We have regional counterparts that are experts in game design and that is one area we want to explore, but the animation [component] needed to be there first,” the President related, adding: “This summer camp is a mixture of things; there is animation, a little bit of [computer] coding and it touched on game design, which will lead up to the future.”