Animation Group for Autistic Young People funded by Trafford Housing Trust

Open Studios Altrincham recently won funding with Trafford Housing Trust to set up an Animation Group. The money is all in place and we are all ready to start in the next few weeks. Details will follow in the next soon.

The group will be run by Matt George who is an interactive artist. His work combines a mixture of traditional techniques combined with sensors, electronics and programming. Over the last fifteen years he has worked on a number of community projects which have explored local histories as games or films produced with young people in schools (mainstream, special needs and EBD) or youth clubs. He is able to explain complex techniques in a fun and interesting way and has the ability to produce quality work with a wide range of community members.

At Open Studios Altrincham during the summer break, Matt delivered a series of workshops including Games Design, Minecraft and Bodgebots. In the groups we had two young people with autism and we were impressed with how Matt engaged with them. He has always enjoyed working with young people with special needs and has been running a Minecraft club for young autistic people in Stockport. His group has gradually grown and he’s started to experiment with other activities including animation.

Talking about his group in Stockport he says,

“Stop frame animation is an ideal social learning opportunity for autistic children. We can work on a story together and storyboard it, we can draw or paint the scenes or back drops, we can develop and make the Plasticine characters and we can make the animation together. The works are produced as a group and credit is always given to contributors who gain creative skills and practical knowledge of how to complete interactive projects.”

The parents of the young people who attended the workshops with Matt at Open Studios Altrincham are delighted that he has agreed to start up a regular group. It will be based at Open Studios Altrincham and we are hoping to secure funding for the venture.

If you are interested please contact openstudiosaltrincham@gmail.com or ring 07873263271