The second annual NATPE Animation and Special Effects Expo, set to go this month, has been cancelled. Bruce Johanson, president and CEO of NATPE, says that the cancellation was brought on by lack of participation. ‘We realized there are just too many [animation] events. The support we were expecting just wasn’t forthcoming.’ Johanson notes that although NATPE pulled out of this years’ three-day event, the organization is exploring possible plans to hold it again in the future.

Johanson says the cancellation also reflects overall trends in the animation business, since planning began on the first event two and a half years ago. ‘Since we started this there have been a lot of takeovers. The survivors [in animation] don’t have the budgets to fly around like they used to,’ Johanson notes.

Last year, 36 percent of the attendees were from the creative side and 28 percent were animation executives, as well as students, technical workers and others.