Aardman and Netflix Announce Major New Project to Support Emerging and Diverse Animation Talent

Earlier this month, at an event to celebrate Netflix’s projects based in the south west, Netflix and Aardman announced a major new partnership to support emerging and diverse animation talent.

The partnership will have two main areas of focus: supporting the professional development of emerging and diverse talent already working in the sector, and reaching out to prospective new talent to encourage them to explore a career in the industry.

Those already working within the sector will be supported through talent accelerator programmes and trainee placements on Netflix Aardman productions. Outreach will include schools outreach, free animation courses and bursary-funded places at the world-leading Aardman Academy.

The partnership is funded by Grow Creative UK, Netflix’s flagship programme to support the careers and training of up to 1,000 people across the UK.

Paula Newport, Aardman’s Director of People & Culture, said: “Supporting careers in animation for emerging and diverse talent has become a real focus at Aardman, and we are absolutely delighted to be partnering with Netflix to extend the reach of our efforts. Thanks to this partnership, we will be able to develop brand new outreach schemes for under 18s keen to explore a future in animation, as well as increase the impact of some of our existing initiatives, for example offering more trainee roles across our major productions and more bursary places on our Aardman Academy professional training courses. The range of opportunity is huge – from creative and production roles to technical fields like VFX to marketing and business functions – and we are so excited about finding and working with the next wave of talent.”

For more information on the opportunities available please check the Aardman Academy website, which regularly holds Online Open Days, and our Jobs Portal where trainee and apprentice roles are posted and where you can sign up to receive our job alerts.