AniMates #1

Location: The Garrick Date: Saturday 28th October

Throughout the pandemic I felt that we were losing one of my favourite parts of being in the animation world. With many studios moving to fully remote productions we no longer had the face to face contacts that filled a studio full of energy and fun vibes. We drifted apart.

In 2022, Me and Craig put our heads together and brainstormed how we can pull us all back together without the use of zoom! Our dream was to create a hub of super creative and talented people. To provide a place for contacts to be made, colleagues to reconnect, collaborations to be born, and to connect employers with employees. But mostly, to have fun and hang out with like minded people! And so.. AniMates was born!

We started small, the back bar in the Garrick, unsure what the demand would be for this type of event. We quickly realised we weren’t alone in missing this face to face contact, and within only days our first event sold out!!

And what a special event it was. We saw people who had worked together for some time meeting in real life for the first time. We witnessed new connections being made and old friends reuniting. We knew from this moment on that we would continue to grow AniMates, and how important these type of events are now with most of us working remote. We were also blown away by the feedback from this event and the excitement and anticipation for the next one. So without hesitation, me and Craig immediately began scheduling the next event!