On 30 July 2020, ALICE’s Polish partner, the Rzeszow Regional Development Agency (RARR), held the first meeting with the project's regional stakeholders. Participants included local SMEs and individuals specialized in animation, working for mainly on TV commercials and promotional videos, and the Head of the Podkarpackie Film Commission. After revisiting ALICE’s purpose of creating a favorable ecosystem for the animation sector across Europe, the representatives of RARR gave a detailed presentation of the project’s approach. It was an opportunity to inform the stakeholders about the on-going activities of the two working groups. One working group is dedicated to fostering collaboration in education and training, the other one deals with legal and finance issues impeding interregional co-productions.
The participants of this regional meeting stressed the importance of establishing an animation support network across the country. Connecting professionals would help boost individual careers and companies’ competitiveness. They suggested also that cluster activities aiming at developing talent and promoting experts would be very helpful for them. Another proposal concerned the creation of a space dedicated to animation, where future professionals could benefit from advanced equipment, tools and software, as well as specialized training at the regional level.
At the end of the session, the stakeholders had acknowledged the need for strengthening connections within regions and the crucial importance of their contributions as industry representatives to the effective implementation of the ALICE project and further development of talent and funding sources in Poland.
