The ALICE partners met on 1 July in Barcelona for their final meeting where they took stock of the progress of their projects but also to consider the continuation of ALICE in the future.
The meeting provided an opportunity to welcome two of the stakeholders who have actively contributed in their respective countries to the realisation of the ALICE action plan, namely Lucia Dubravay Trautenberger from Bibiana (International House of Art for Children) and Marcin Kotyła from SPPA (Polish Animation Producers Association).
The partners stressed that the commitment made at the beginning by ALICE to come up with actions and recommendations to strengthen the European animation industry sector in the long term has been put on the right track.
A first step has been taken with the publication of the Whitepaper. The implementation of the action plans by the partners is further proof of this. The presentations, grouped according to the themes of training, mapping, financing and cooperation, have shown their coherence.
The announcement made by ProA that the first European congress on co-production around the concept of "knowledge and exchange" will be held in Barcelona in November was welcomed by all partners.
The representative of proA, Mar Sàez Pedrero, indicated that this congress would be held on the basis of the achievements of ALICE, in particular on the basis of the lines of force identified by the whitepaper.
For his part, Philippe Reynaert stressed that one of the ways of continuing ALICE's action would be through the setting up of the Smart Directory, a database updated in real time that would allow the identification of the skills that animation studios could make available. He indicated that a potential sub-contractor, whose speciality is to create databases for the audiovisual sector, had been identified.
It was agreed that he would circulate the quotation received from this company, which would enable the establishment of a budget not only for the production of the database but also to ensure its permanent updating. Potential funding avenues at both regional and European level will be explored.
The ALICE partners agreed to continue the reflection on the future of ALICE until the Barcelona Congress, which would be the right time to take decisions on this matter.
