Introductions

Thanks Sam for setting up Loomio, Chicken Coop Animation Co-op I looking forward to collabourating in what ever way I can. Well done on getting such an amount of ground work done so far.

Hello everyone,

I hope you had a great start into the new year! We're bursting with motivation to get started and thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce the rest of our Chicken Coop team to anyone we haven't interacted with yet!

My name is Greta and I'm currently operating as the General Secretary for The Chicken Coop Animation Co-Op. I've been adventuring through every corner of the entertainment industry for the last 10 years and currently make my living designing and illustrating for animated projects and children's books.

Like for many neurodivergent people, getting my ADHD diagnosis as an adult was a life-changing event that had a big influence on how I create my art and navigate workplaces, with little resources available on how to do so. Getting to build a safe space for neurodivergent people to have a sustainable career is a huge opportunity for us, so thank you for supporting our mission with your expertise and experience!

We're excited to keep the conversation going and hopefully meet everyone in a seminar soon!

Greta Spitczok von Brisinski

P.S.: I think I may have requested access to the wrong group, if we're not supposed to be in the main group please ignore our join requests - sorry about the confusion there.

Greg suggested we each post a piece of our work, so here's my magical tea cup ride!

Hello! My name is Gregory Wayne and I proposed the Chicken Coop Animation Co-Op to the animation union a few months ago. Since then we've formed a small team that has grown, shrank, and grown again, and now we are ready for action!

A little about me:

I'm an experienced Background Artist and Prop Designer with three years in studios across Kilkenny and Dublin. I am passionate about workers rights, think frogs are cool, and enjoy brewing beer in my spare time. After facing burnout due to inflexible "reasonable accommodation" policies, I envisioned an animation co-op inspired by Aardman’s worker-owned model. As a Dublin-based union representative, I now lead a dedicated core team turning this vision into reality.

We are committed to creating a neurodivergent advocating and differently-abled friendly co-operatively owned studio to create animations, benefit the community, and fix the glaring issues in the animation industry.

I've attached below a prop design sheet for 'The Sword in the Stone' just to show what type of work I typically do beyond organising.

I am excited to hear from everyone else as well!

Hello all!

My name is Elisa (you can call me Eli) and I'm an award winning director who has been working in the animation industry for the past five years. I started working when I was 19 in Italy for the comic book and illustration industry; I have relocated to Ireland for this career shift and now here I am!

My body of work's entire focus consists of social matters and living with a broad scope of conditions, ranging from neurodivergency to LGBTQ+ identities. During my time in Italy and Ireland I've been consistently advocating for the rights of marginalised people and I consider that a huge aspect of my career.

When Greg illustrated to me the mission of the co-op I immediately knew I wanted to be a part of it. Being autistic and subsequently getting diagnosed has fundamentally shaped the way I see the world and has allowed me to realize how apparent the inequity is in this industry, especially when it comes to accommodate the needs of the people who build it. I'm very thankful to him for bringing me in and to you for taking the time to have a chat with us about the possibilities that are in front of us!

My current role in the co-op is Creative Director; I'm taking care of the visual identity of the project alongside our very talented designers. I'm also undergoing the process of developing pitches and ideas to get the ball rolling and show the world what we're capable of.

I'm attaching a still of "another go", one of my animated shorts, down here - this one is about living with Borderline Personality Disorder. It has won the Silver Humanitarian Award at Los Angeles Animation Festival and has recently been selected to screen at Animation Dingle, Ireland's top animation film festival.

Looking forward to hear from you and again, thank you so much for being here.

Hello everyone, I'm so delighted to see this! I think an animation workers co-op makes so much sense as a fair and progressive organisational structure for highly skilled workers. I would love to help advise if I can, and hope to join the upcoming knowledge sharing session. I have a Masters in Co-operatives and Sustainable Development and some experience on co-operative management committees. Plus, my sister is an animator so I am well aware of the struggles you can face in conventional privately-owned businesses. Best wishes, Isabel