The Los Angeles Times uses a visible rise in the number of women enrolled in the renowned CalArts animation program as a barometer for the rise of women on the creative side of the animation industry overall. While the character animation program debuted in 1975 with only two female students, the current CalArts class is 71% women, with 16 women and 10 men graduating from this year’s program. Other comparable programs (such as USC’s John C. Hench Division of Animation & Digital Arts, UCLA’s animation master’s degree program, and Florida’s Ringling College of Art and Design CGI program) are all at least 60% female.
Even so, the article notes the relatively few high-profile women in the industry, noting that they are the exceptions and not the rule when discussing individuals like co-presidents of DreamWorks Animation Bonnie Arnold and Mireille Soria, or series creators Rebecca Sugar (Steven Universe) or Daron Nefcy (Star vs. the Forces of Evil).
The article also quotes Brenda Chapman, formerly of Pixar and co-director of Brave, on how her replacement as director of that film was due to gender issues, saying, “It was less open sexism and more just being in a room full of men and trying to explain my point of view and not being understood because they didn’t get it, it wasn’t in their wheelhouse.”
