ASIFA restructuring

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ASIFA restructuring

Post by James » March 1st, 2011, 2:18 pm

I have to run out for a bit but wanted to get this discussion going first. I'll add it to the front page tonight.
A NEW ERA FOR ASIFA-HOLLYWOOD

BURBANK, CA (March 1, 2011) – ASIFA-Hollywood announces the selection of its new President, Frank Gladstone, at its February board meeting. Gladstone replaces Antran Manoogian who held the position for over 20 years. Joining Gladstone as new board officers are Jerry Beck, vice president and Jeff Wike as treasurer. Bill Turner returns as secretary.

“First and foremost, we owe Antran Manoogian an enormous amount of respect and admiration for his many years of selfless devotion to ASIFA-Hollywood,” says Gladstone. “Antran has seen the organization through a period of unparalleled growth and success, going from a small club to an organization of over 4000 members. During his stewardship, Antran established, among many achievements, a digital archive, and built the Annie Award into the most important honor in animation.”

Gladstone continued, “Though I’ve been part of ASIFA and the animation community for a long time, I am looking forward to being the ‘new face’ of the organization and to making some significant changes to the status quo. For starters, this includes updating our membership qualifications, establishing a representative voice for every animation studio and creative technique, building an advisory board of animation luminaries and revising the voting structure of the annual Annie Awards.”

In the next few weeks ASIFA-Hollywood will be holding meetings with executives from all the major studios to get their input on how we can improve our infrastructure. ASIFA-Hollywood will take this time to ask its members, both individual and corporate, to come together and advise them on how best to chart the course for decades to come. In addition they will invite many of its members to join the executive board.

Frank Gladstone has been a professional animator, producer, director, writer and teacher, first managing his own studio, and then working in management positions for Disney, Warner Bros. and DreamWorks, among others. He is currently the CEO of the animation consulting firm, Gladstone Film, teaches worldwide and is the ‘artist-in-residence’ for the ACME Network.

Tom Sito, long time vice president of ASIFA-Hollywood has also stepped down and Jerry Beck, former Nickelodeon and Disney studio exec, cartoon producer and animation historian is taking his place. Beck has written 15 books on animation, and has programmed many major retrospectives. He currently co-writes the industry blog, “Cartoon Brew” and teaches animation history at Woodbury University in Burbank.

Bill Turner is a Production Supervisor at Disney Television Animation. He has been active in ASIFA-Hollywood since 1978 and has served as the organization’s secretary since the 1990s. In 2009 he was presented with the June Foray Award for his decades of service.

Today, ASIFA-Hollywood, founded by renowned voice actress June Foray and animators Bill Littlejohn, Carl Bell and Ward Kimball, among others, is the largest of an international network of chapters and supports a range of animation initiatives through its membership. In addition to the annual Annie Awards honoring the best in animation, current projects include an animation archive, library and museum, classes and screenings, and animated film preservation.

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Re: ASIFA restructuring

Post by droosan » March 1st, 2011, 3:01 pm

I'd allowed my ASIFA membership to expire this past year .. so, I perhaps shouldn't say anything. :|

But .. the decision to 'qualify' members in any way kinda goes against the entire point of ASIFA, IMO. :?

ASIFA has historically been an animation appreciation society. It has not been -- and IMO, should not become -- a 'professional' organization (and keep in mind, I say this as a 16-year professional in the animation/VFX industry).

The fact that anyone can join -- and fully participate within -- ASIFA (pros and fans alike) is a fundamental aspect of the society. AFAIK, this actually still holds true for ASIFA chapters elsewhere in the world .. which only makes the ASIFA-Hollywood decision more troubling.

I actually would almost prefer not to hold the Annie Awards at all, than to institute a 'caste' system wherein only professional members can be considered full participants. :(



But, then again -- as I'd said -- I am now no longer an ASIFA-Hollywood member .. so, it doesn't much matter what I think, anymore.



I do wish the society nothing but the best, in its future endeavors.

GeorgeC

Re: ASIFA restructuring

Post by GeorgeC » March 1st, 2011, 6:28 pm

Hollywood is amazing when you think about it...

They express very classical liberal values (NOT the same thing as Left-Wing or Progressive) in movies (did anyway in the past, and much better than today's drek) but yet when it comes to their own professional organizations there is a demand for falling in the ranks that's akin to the worst aspects of the Soviet system!

Must belong to Union (Party) to work!
Must not voice dissent or disagreement with the Union (Party) publicly!
Must know friends on inside to advance within the Union (Party)!

... and all that nice stuff that's typically associated with strong-arming, criminal-driven labor unions. OR, ultra-cliquish social groups. The kind a lot of us hated in high school and college.

Yeah, that's real compatible with democracy!
Way to express individuality!
The animatronics at Disney Land have more free expression....

*******

Getting back to ASIFA-Hollywood...

Darn shame to see it devolve into elementary school sandbox fighting.

I had thought most of us had grown out of that mentality but all it takes is a glance at personal and professional blogs to see that the usual B.S. most of started encountering in grade school still holds. Oh no, this isn't the upper caste of actors, producers, and directors fighting -- these are techs and artists who claim to NOT to want to be like the rest (except for the benefits, of course).

What's different about one group of 5-year-old brats complaining from another group of complaining brats??? This is what people on the outside see. Generally, even the snobbier groups have better PR!

I thought, too, that ASIFA was supposed to be open to members of the public and any appreciator of animation in its different forms.

Sad to see that the usual unhappy suspects (online "self-proclaimed animation prophets" and their followers) have changed the face of the chapter...

This is why I LIKE to stay away from some people's blogs and any site/blog that claims to "be leading the discussion." They're not democratic at all, they get stuck on unimportant things, and they get personal with people for no reason other than to stir up anger...

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Post by James » March 1st, 2011, 10:22 pm

I have no problems with their membership rules. But the Annies are a joke as currently ran. Either it is the premier animation industry awards OR it is equivalent to the much derided People's Choice Awards. You can't have it both ways. Let grandma's pay dues and join if they want. But the awards segment must be legitimized if it wants to be taken seriously.

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Re: ASIFA restructuring

Post by droosan » March 2nd, 2011, 3:05 am

Having actually participated in the voting process for several Annie Awards cycles, I wouldn't be inclined to refer to them as a 'joke'. For the past few years, voters have been required to log-in to a secure website and actually view ALL of the submitted clips for each category before casting their votes. Even the AMPAS doesn't necessarily require that of its 'rank-and-file' voting membership.

As stated in my previous post .. I'd just as soon do without the Annie Awards entirely, than fundamentally change ASIFA-Hollywood into a de facto 'professionals-only' organization.

But -- since that process is already well-underway (and only seems to be accelerating, in light of today's news) -- leaving the society seems to have been the right decision, for me. :|

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Post by James » March 2nd, 2011, 7:50 am

Like I said I have no problem with the general membership thing. And other than the perceptual problem, grandma's voting for the premier animation awards isn't the major problem with the Annies anymore. The real problem is ballot box stuffing.

They could keep the general "feel" of allowing non-animation people to participate in the Annies by either adding a few "People's Choice" categories, or even making the "People's Choice" count for like 25% of each category. But they really need to do something about studios who rally their employees in massive vote drives to influence the award their way rather than honoring the people responsible for the best animation of the year.

GeorgeC

Re: ASIFA restructuring

Post by GeorgeC » March 2nd, 2011, 12:38 pm

Honestly, I think I would have left, too, if I were in your industry, Droo...

I agree. What's happening now smells bad...

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