Emeryville, Ca., Nov. 5, 2013 – Today, Animation Mentor and The ACME Network are proud to announce a partnership to provide animation scholarships to young and talented animators. Both organizations – pioneers in channeling the career aspirations of creatives into the animation industry – have committed to working together to give back and bring ongoing education opportunities to young people across the U.S.

The partnership will offer scholarships to Animation Mentor’s Maya Workshop: Animation Basics course. This six-week workshop was designed by industry professionals to introduce beginning animators to Autodesk Maya software and teach them to use the specific tools used in character animation. Scholarships will be available for the Winter, Spring and Summer 2014 terms and will be awarded to outstanding ACME students on the basis of their work, their participation as “peer mentors”, and the recommendations of both their classroom instructors and ACME.

Beginning this month, Alumni from the Animation Mentor program will be offering commentary and constructive criticism to members of The ACME Network. These working professional animators will visit The ACME Network’s online campus weekly to share their perspectives, insights and advice as well as build meaningful mentoring relationships with members of the ACME community.

Of the partnership, Animation Mentor CEO Bobby Beck said, “The ACME Network is the premier, non-profit Animation educational organization in the world. For more than 18 years, they have taught young people the professional and creative skills necessary to succeed in the Hollywood animation industry. We are thrilled to be working with our friends at The ACME Network and look forward to welcoming them into the Animation Mentor community.”

Deborah Brooks, Executive Director of The ACME Network, added, “ACME is excited to join with Animation Mentor in offering these exceptional opportunities for members of the ACME community. Animation Mentor provides a high-quality education for students who can then hit the ground running — out of their dreams and right into their careers! This collaboration will open doors for many more deserving students who wish to make their mark in the animation and visual effects fields.”

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About Animation Mentor

Animation Mentor is the leading online animation and VFX school, where industry professionals mentor students within the first fully-distributed, educational and production pipeline. The Animation Mentor program teaches the exact skill set that film, animation and visual effects studios seek – the ability to collaborate professionally across multiple disciplines within the patent pending AMP production pipeline.

For more information, please contact Micha Hershman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, at 510-450-7220 or [email protected], or visit www.animationmentor.com

© 2013 Next Education LLC. All rights reserved. ANIMATIONMENTOR, AMP studio production pipeline, AMP tool, the Animation Mentor logo, and other Animation Mentor marks, logo and trade dress are trademarks or registered trademarks of Next Education LLC. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners

About The ACME Network

The ACME (Art, Communication, & Media in Education) Network is an award-winning, non-profit online mentoring community that brings together students, teachers, and industry experts to help students become effective innovators, communicators, and leaders within today’s creative economy. ACME students develop social responsibility and gain college-ready, job-ready, and lifelong learning skills. Through professional and peer critique of their media projects, students not only learn state-of-the art industry standards and practices, but also develop the professional behaviors and capacity necessary to succeed in any job setting. Moreover, ACME’s “Pay-It-Forward” environment inspires students to serve as “peer mentors” – providing constructive feedback to other community members on an ongoing basis.

Pioneering distance learning since 1996, ACME has provided over 55,000 students (and their teachers) in middle school, high school and college classrooms with access to higher education and career opportunities. More than 75% of these classrooms are located in high poverty neighborhoods.

For more information please contact Executive Director, Deborah Brooks at [email protected] or visit www.theacmenetwork.org

The ACME Network and ACME Animation and their logos are registered trademarks of The ACME Network.