Ireland’s annual Animation Dingle festival and conference took place March 24 to 25 as an in-person event for the first time since 2019, following two virtual editions and a cancellation in 2020 due to the global pandemic.

More than 700 students and industry professionals converged in the seaside town of Dingle in County Kerry for the two-day gathering, and the joy of being together again was palpable. 

Organized by Irish prodco JAM Media (Tiara Jones, Jessy & Nessy), the festival’s 11th edition featured a packed agenda of workshops, screenings, pitching and networking opportunities, portfolio reviews and student awards. A virtual format was also offered this year in order to expand the reach of the experience internationally.

Embracing change was a prevalent theme in the event’s conference program, as student delegates got advice on breaking into the industry from a number of Irish studio execs, including Brown Bag Films co-founder Darragh O’Connell and JAM Media producer/COO Mark Cumberton.

O’Connell reminded students they will never stop learning, even once they become working professionals. “Our company is always changing, and now we have to figure things out like AI,” O’Connell says. “It’s always going to evolve.”

Cumberton agreed with O’Connell, stressing that artists should always drive creativity, regardless of the technology being employed. “The tools are there to help, so don’t be scared of change—you have to embrace it.”

As for the evolution of hybrid work environments that has played out as a result of the pandemic, O’Connell, Triggerfish CEO Stuart Forrest and Boulder Media co-founder Paul O’Flanagan would like to see more staff working in-studio, particularly junior staff. 

According to O’Connell, work at Brown Bag is still being done quite remotely, but starting next month, the company will be asking staff to come into the studio eight days a month, giving people the flexibility to choose which days. “It will be a five-month trial, and we’ll see what happens, but hopefully that creative buzz will be there,” he says.

O’Flanagan says there’s nothing better than sitting beside a really experienced person and picking their brain. “It will enhance your life and skills. You’re not going to get that education at home,” he says. 

Forrest agrees that it’s necessary to have a balance of juniors and seniors back in the studio working together. “Both of our studios have gotten quite a bit older [in-house] as the junior tier has diminished a bit, so we’re at a point where we need to get juniors back in,” he says. “We need to find solutions for remote workers and have seniors who were reluctant to give as much of their time offer more mentorship. It’s a difficult time, and we’re still trying to figure it out.”

On the flip side, Deirdre Barry, program director of Screen Ireland’s new National Talent Academy for Animation, says it’s still very beneficial for studios to work with a wider talent pool of people in international regions. “Being in the studio is great, but a huge focus of the academy is working with people who can’t afford to move or don’t want to move,” Barry says. “For these people, remote work has opened up all kinds of opportunities.”

In other staffing issues, retention continues to be a challenge for many studios if there are gaps between productions. “Over the years, we’ve really tried to retain people in order to give them a career progression, and we’ve been pretty lucky lately that we’ve been able to roll from pre-production to pre-production,” says Cartoon Saloon co-founder Paul Young. “We have a six- to seven-year schedule we look at by department, so we can move crews from one project to the next and hopefully not lose people. It doesn’t always work out, but I think you need to have at least three productions on the go [in order to optimize staff retention].”

On the topic of embracing change, RTÉ head of children’s content Suzanne Kelly spoke on an “Adapting to the Digital Age” panel about how the Irish pubcaster is placing podcast content on YouTube. And her team is calling on Irish college animation students to augment these stories visually. 

“We’re already working with Dublin-based Coláiste Dhúlaigh, and I’m going to be starting discussions with the Institute of Art, Design and Technology (IADT) and any other colleges that would like to work on the project, which could potentially become part of an educational module,” says Kelly. 

She also noted that RTÉ, with support from Screen Ireland and NCBI (an Irish nonprofit supporting the blind community), is currently adapting Turnip + Duck’s popular RTÉjr Radio podcast Maddie & Triggs into a 2D-animated TV series for kids ages five to seven. “It’s always important to think about some different ways to get your content stories out there,” says Kelly.

The growing popularity of podcasts among youth audiences was evident in the fest’s student pitches to broadcasters, too. The winner of this year’s Big Pitcher—Fay Antar from IADT—presented On Eir, a series concept about a group of first- and second-generation immigrant kids living in rural Ireland who form a bond while creating their own podcast. For her efforts, Antar will receive a six-month paid internship at JAM Media, and a chance to pitch at Cartoon Springboard 2023 in Madrid.

Juror Tara Sorensen, Apple’s head of children’s programming, applauded the concept’s emphasis on creative expression and authentic representation, while RTÉ exec Eimear O’Mahony said the series would work well both locally and globally.  

Pictured is the “Irish studio Panel: Unlock your creative potential.” From left to right: Ronan McCabe, Deirdre Barry,: Mark Cumberton, Stuart Forrest and Darragh O’Connell. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Dickson.