Society for Animation Studies

Society for Animation Studies
Name	Society for Animation Studies
Founded	1987
Headquarters	United States
Type	Academic society
Fields	Animation studies, Film studies, Media studies

Contents

Society for Animation Studies

The Society for Animation Studies is an international scholarly organization that promotes research on animated film, television, and digital media. It brings together scholars, curators, historians, and practitioners from institutions such as Museum of Modern Art (New York City), University of Southern California, California Institute of the Arts, and Université Paris 8, fostering dialogue across contexts including International Animated Film Association, Annecy International Animation Film Festival, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and Venice Film Festival. The society connects work situated in archives like the Library of Congress, collections such as the British Film Institute, and programs at universities like New York University, University of California, Los Angeles, and Royal College of Art.

History

Founded in 1987, the society emerged amid growing academic interest represented by conferences at institutions including Yale University, University of Westminster, Goldsmiths, University of London, and Sorbonne University. Early participants included scholars associated with journals like Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, curators from Smithsonian Institution and filmmakers from studios such as Walt Disney Animation Studios, Studio Ghibli, Nickelodeon Animation Studio, and Aardman Animations. Over time the organization reflected shifts documented in monographs published by presses like Routledge, Oxford University Press, University of Minnesota Press, and MIT Press, and dialogues with festivals including Berlin International Film Festival and Cannes Film Festival.

The society’s mission emphasizes historical, theoretical, and practical study engaging figures and entities such as Winsor McCay, Walt Disney, Osamu Tezuka, Hayao Miyazaki, Chuck Jones, Tex Avery, Max Fleischer, Lotte Reiniger, and institutions like National Film Board of Canada, Toei Animation, and Pixar Animation Studios. Activities include organizing panels with participants from Columbia University, Princeton University, University of Cambridge, and University of California, Berkeley; collaborative projects with archives such as George Eastman Museum and Filmoteca Española; and partnerships with museums like Tate Modern and Centre Pompidou.

Annual conferences rotate among host institutions including California Institute of the Arts, University of Westminster, Concordia University, University of Tokyo, King’s College London, and Beijing Film Academy. Program themes have connected to exhibitions at venues such as Museum of the Moving Image (New York) and Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and to retrospectives of works by Isao Takahata, Satoshi Kon, John Lasseter, Nick Park, and Richard Williams. The society has convened panels alongside events like Society for Cinema and Media Studies Conference, Association of Art Historians Annual Conference, and International Council on Archives gatherings.

The society supports peer-reviewed dissemination through proceedings and collaborates with journals and presses including Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Journal of Film and Video, Screen (journal), Film Quarterly, Palgrave Macmillan, and Bloomsbury. Research topics have ranged across case studies involving Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film), Akira (1988 film), Toy Story (film), The Triplets of Belleville, and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya, and technical histories referencing companies such as Industrial Light & Magic, DreamWorks Animation, and Sony Pictures Imageworks. Projects have engaged with restoration efforts at British Film Institute National Archive, preservation initiatives at UCLA Film & Television Archive, and digital humanities collaborations with The Internet Archive.

Membership draws academics and practitioners from departments and organizations like School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Edinburgh, National Film and Television School (UK), Tokyo University of the Arts, and programming units such as Cartoon Network Studios. Governance is overseen by an elected board with officers collaborating with secretariats and editorial committees similar to structures seen at Modern Language Association, Association for Computing Machinery, and American Historical Association. Committees coordinate with funders and institutions including National Endowment for the Humanities, Canadian Heritage, Arts Council England, and university presses.

The society has recognized scholarship and curation in ways that complement awards such as the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, Annie Awards, César Award for Best Animated Film, and honors presented at Annie Awards Hall of Fame and festival prizes at Annecy International Animation Film Festival. It highlights exemplary dissertations, monographs, and curatorial work concerning animators like Mary Blair, Eileen O'Meara, Nina Paley, Bill Plympton, Glen Keane, Satoshi Kon, and collections at Museum of Moving Image (London). Recipients often have affiliations with institutions such as University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts, Columbia University School of the Arts, and Goldsmiths, University of London.