FoAD honours first cohort of Animation Short Course graduates English and Communication Programme staffers walked the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge

NFoAD honours first cohort of Animation Short Course graduates SIMANGELE ZUMA Five students who successfully completed the 13-week Animation Short Course under the Faculty of Arts and Design (FoAD) at the Durban University of Technology were recently awarded certificates in recognition of their hard work at the DUT’s City Campus.

Handing over the certificates was Professor Runette Kruger, the FoAD Executive Dean, who began by congratulating the students namely; Asiyah Ghumran, Anele Mordecai Cain, Maryam Kotze, W Sibongakonke Nkonyeni and Waylin Ashby. “We are very happy and proud to be handing the certificates of the graduated students of the Animation Short Course to them. We are grateful to the main driver behind this short course, Dr Dianna Moodley and the convenor of the studio, Clare Louis who made all this possible by passing her knowledge to the students,” said Prof Kruger. Dr Moodley, who initiated this project through the Short Course Unit (SCU) at DUT said this is a double win for everyone that has participated in this project, as it is the first ever in Durban for a short course to be run in animation. She expressed that they are very proud of the first cohort that have completed the course. “I say double win because we have innovation and entrepreneurship at its best. They are on their way to opening up their own businesses and venturing into unlimited prospects,” she said. She explained that the Short Course was initiated after her interaction with the Fine Arts and Graphic Design departments who were enquiring as to why DUT does not offer animation at all. Dr Moodley said she realised that it was not such a huge task to at least introduce animation to DUT. Going forward, she said they plan on developing it into a fuller programme. In the second semester, Dr Moodley said the course will be undertaken by a cohort of lecturers so that they could in turn teach students when the animation course gets formally imbedded in the DUT

Animation Short Course facilitator Claire Louis and FoAD Executive Dean, Prof Runette Kruger, with the five Animation Short Course graduates. 14 | SOFTCOPY

E WS programme. The course facilitator is Claire Louis, owner of the Katanimate 3D Animation Studio based in Musgrave. Speaking about her involvement with the course, Louis said: “After running an animation workshop during DigiFest 2021, I enquired from Prof Kruger on initiating animation in Durban because I was finding it difficult to find qualified animators, unlike in Johannesburg and Cape Town. Not long after that I got a phone call from Dr Moodley and things moved really quickly. We came up with the course, something that would work and we ended up with these five graduates who stuck through everything.” DUT Short Course Unit Director, Professor Thakur, said that he is elated to offer such a course through DUT. “Our ENVISON2030 espouses an engaged university, through innovative curricula and nurturing creativity. This animation project is a nexus of an industry expert, an amenable faculty, and a champion. We hope that this course should inspire our colleagues at the university to leverage networks and industry to help us open doors or improve employability for our graduates.” ISSUE THREE 2022 | 15