For four months, 20 emerging African animators have been developing stories, sharpening their technical skills and learning what it takes to turn creative ideas into sustainable work, Cape {town} Etc reports.
That journey came together in Cape Town last Thursday evening, when the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa, UVU Africa and CAPACITI celebrated the participants at an Independent Animators’ Showcase.
Hosted at the timbuktoo Creative Hub at the District Six Homecoming Centre, the event gave the animators a chance to put their work in front of programme partners and invited guests.
But the evening was about more than screening finished films.
It was also a look at what happens when young creative talent is given the tools to think beyond a single project and start building something that can last.
The showcase marked the conclusion of the four-month UNDP timbuktoo Independent Animators’ Capacity Building Programme, delivered by UVU Africa and CAPACITI on behalf of UNDP South Africa.
Running from May to August 2026, the programme brought together technical training, mentorship and practical business development.
Participants worked on original animated shorts with support from mini grants, while also being introduced to areas such as intellectual property, budgeting, proposal writing, audience engagement and partnership building.
The programme was built around four pillars, Voice, Craft, Practice and Reach, aimed at strengthening everything from a creator’s storytelling identity and technical ability to business readiness and access to markets.
For UVU Africa, the programme was designed to tackle a challenge that goes beyond the quality of the animation itself.
Emerging creators need to know how to protect their work, find funding, reach audiences and build businesses around their ideas.
Kelly Maroon, Talent Executive at CAPACITI, the skills development arm of UVU Africa, said the programme was intended to help creators make that shift.
‘The scarcity in Africa is not talent,’ Maroon said. ‘The programme helps creators develop an entrepreneurial approach to access funding and protect their intellectual property’.
She also pointed to the need for a stronger support system around African creative entrepreneurs.
‘We’ve got to create the scaffolding beneath the entrepreneurs that looks at policy change, international regulations around intellectual property for African creators, and how we keep the films and the stories moving globally, but the funds circulating continentally,’ Maroon said.
That wider economic potential is reflected in research from the International Finance Corporation, which reports that every US$1 spent in creative industries generates US$2.50 in wealth for the economy.
For Maroon, however, the value of the programme also came down to who was telling the stories and where those stories came from.
‘For us, the purpose of this programme, specifically in partnership with the UNDP, was to tell real, true African stories that came from inside of these creators,’ she said.
The message was echoed by Evan Jacobs, Head of Solutions Mapping at UNDP, who addressed the showcase through a recorded message from New York.
‘The creative economy in Africa is growing. The demand for African stories told with African sensibilities and African specificity is real, and it is increasing. You are not waiting to be a part of that; you are already a part of that,’ he said.
The animation initiative forms part of UNDP’s wider timbuktoo Creatives Hub. In 2025, the Hub supported 47 pan-African start-ups, with 80% youth-led and 63% women-led.
The showcase gave that bigger ambition a more personal face.
Across four screening blocks, the animators presented projects reflecting different styles, techniques and experiences. Among the work featured in the final screening were My Paraffin TV by Althea Jarvis and The Fisherman’s Son by Ridhaa Damon.
Jarvis, a motion design and creative media animator with experience in live-action filmmaking, turned to stop-motion to recreate elements of the Eastern Cape where she grew up.
Her project also made use of recycled materials, including cardboard from her son’s nappy boxes.
For Jarvis, success is not simply about seeing her own name in the credits. She wants her creative work to create opportunities for others too.
‘You have a whole crew of young people that you’re employing, and they are building puppets, or they’re building sets, or they’re animating, or they’re painting backgrounds,’ she said.
The business side of the programme was a major attraction for Jarvis, encouraging her to consider how her creative work could develop into something commercially viable.
Damon’s path into the programme was different.
He discovered the opportunity while looking for work and has had a soft, hoarse voice since childhood. Animation provided another way for him to express himself.
His project, The Fisherman’s Son, is set at Boulders Beach in Cape Town and follows a boy dealing with fear and insecurity with the help of a seal.
Looking back on the programme, Damon said the experience had changed both his skills and his confidence.
‘I got to meet incredible people, grow my skill set. I just feel like I levelled up as an artist,’ he said.
He also learnt lessons beyond animation, including how to build connections, approach studios with pitches and look for funding opportunities.
His advice to other young animators was equally straightforward.
‘Don’t keep to yourself. Don’t just stay in your room and draw all day. Go out there. Meet people, talk to people, make connections.’
That sense of confidence is ultimately what Maroon hopes participants will take with them after the programme.
She described success as ‘walking out of this programme with confidence to knock on the next door, submit the next funding application, to submit their film to a film festival’.
For participant Wandile Abrahamse, the collective achievement could be even bigger than the individual projects.
‘The entire team output is a proof of concept that South Africa can produce its own self-sustaining animation industry and audience.’
That may be the most important takeaway from the showcase: the 20 animators were not simply presenting films they had made.
They were demonstrating what African animation can look like when creative talent is paired with the skills, networks and business knowledge needed to take those stories further.
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