City councillors get serious about cartoons

The City's proposed animation centre initiative is on hold but not forgotten, says Michael Burtch, curator and director at Art Gallery Algoma.

As a matter of fact, the gallery has just been offered a new collection of cels, voice tests, backgrounds, storyboards and other associated animation paraphernalia.

"We've tentatively accepted an offer of another collection," Burtch says. "It's the Michael Mills collection."

Born in London, England, Mills moved to Canada in 1967 and joined the National Film Board as animator/director.

He won two Oscar nominations, for producing Evolution in 1971 and History of the World in Three Minutes Flat in 1980 and was executive producer and distributor for the 1984 Oscar-winning animated short Charade.

Burtch was at City Council this week to ask for a little help to get the animation centre going.

He said that the idea was shelved about six months ago, shortly after a feasibility study was done.

"There were a couple pieces missing in the puzzle," said Burtch. "The board just doesn't have time to add this to its full plate."

City Council agreed to form a task force in cooperation with the Art Gallery of Algoma board, to further investigate the project's feasibility.

To date, 14 of the recommendations in the original report of March 2004 have not been followed because there have not been adequate fiscal and human resources, said Burtch.

Formation of a task force to follow the report's recommendations was one of the recommendations not yet followed.

Burtch and Ward 1 Councillor Steve Butland, who brought the matter before Council this week, believe that an animation centre is likely to be a good thing for the Sault.

They say an animation centre could be a money-making, tourist-drawing, culture-enriching attraction.

The Art Gallery of Algoma already has more than 600,000 cels from the Super Dave Osborne cartoon show and 14 episodes of Family Classics cartoons.

"Congratulations to Michael," said Butland. "These collections have come to the Art Gallery of Algoma because of Michael's connections."

The initial feasibility study, completed in March 2004, looked at seven possible locations for the new centre and narrowed it down to two.

One would be the Gateway site, the other would be a freestanding building on Art Gallery of Algoma property.

"The animation centre concept is feasible," said the report. "Assuming it is built at a sufficient size and scale to act as a compelling attraction for the potential markets available to it."

Mayor John Rowswell is hoping the brand new Animation Centre Task Force will get the ball rolling.

The feasibility study accepted as information by Council in 2004 recommended that the task force be charged with developing a detailed road map for getting an animation centre open and flourishing.

Councillors also asked that they be kept informed of progress once the task force is up and running.