A groundbreaking six-month training initiative, spearheaded by Saint Lucian leadership, has successfully equipped emerging artists from the Caribbean and Africa with powerful animation tools for climate advocacy. The ‘Climate Voices’ 2D Animation Training Project concluded after transforming participants into skilled storytellers capable of communicating environmental challenges through visual media.
Produced by Malfinis Film and Animation Studio Inc. for Youth IRIE and the Caribbean Climate Justice Project, the program received funding from SOLORICON under the guidance of renowned Saint Lucian scientist and climate justice advocate Dr. James Fletcher. The project specifically targeted young creatives, teaching them how animation could effectively convey the urgency of climate action and highlight environmental issues affecting their local communities.
Following an extensive regional outreach campaign and rigorous portfolio-based selection process, forty participants from Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, Guyana, Antigua and Barbuda, Suriname, St. Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, and Nigeria embarked on the comprehensive training journey.
Milton Edison Branford, Manager and Creative Director of Malfinis Film and Animation Studio Inc., led the project alongside a team of experienced facilitators and technical specialists. Participants received expert guidance through the complete animation production pipeline, including scriptwriting, storyboarding, character design, animation production, and post-production techniques.
The program’s practical component involved dividing participants into production teams tasked with creating original animated short films focused on environmental advocacy and climate change awareness. Three teams successfully produced final animated projects that utilized compelling visual storytelling to explore the profound effects and pressing urgency of the climate crisis.
Dr. Fletcher expressed remarkable admiration for the quality of work produced, noting that ‘the animations were smooth, professionally executed, and of a quality comparable to professional studios, even though many of the participants entered the program with little or no prior animation training.’
The completed animations are scheduled for distribution across organizational websites and social media platforms, where they will function as potent advocacy tools to raise climate change awareness among global audiences.
The training employed an innovative hybrid delivery format, combining in-person sessions at Malfinis Film and Animation Studio in Saint Lucia with virtual participation from artists across the region through the studio’s licensed training platform. Participants utilized industry-standard Toon Boom Animation software as the primary production tool throughout the program.
During the closing ceremony, trainees received formal certificates recognizing their successful completion of the intensive program. Participants universally expressed pride and gratitude for the opportunity, highlighting how the program demystified complex animation concepts while providing invaluable professional development and creative confidence.