The Government will be executing an Apprenticeship (Scholarship) Programme in the upcoming fiscal year, which will see 80 animators being trained in intensive 2D and 3D animation.

This is to be facilitated under the Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industries project, for which $207.5 million has been allotted in the 2021/22 Estimates of Expenditure, now before the House of Representatives.

Also, for the new fiscal year, it is anticipated that under the project, the KingstOOn 4 Animation Festival will be hosted in April 2021; 300 participants, who were trained in digitisation, will be placed in internships; the hosting of the National Science Fair/Youth Innovators Competition will be supported; the Policy Note and Strategic Plan for the Animation Industry will be completed, and the refurbishing and equipping of four community centres will be completed.

The Youth Employment in Digital and Animation Industries project, which is being implemented by the Office of the Prime Minister, seeks to build the capacity and enhance the skills of Jamaica’s youth to improve their employability in the digital and animation industries.

This is being done by providing animation training for individuals and capacity-building for institutions delivering animation training; support to develop an animation policy for Jamaica; business development support to existing and potential operations in the local animation industry; training, apprenticeship and job opportunities in the digitisation of Government records for unattached Jamaican youth aged 18 to 24; support for science, technology and innovation; and institutional capacity building for project management.

Being funded by the Government of Jamaica and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), the project, which began in September 2014, is slated to end in July 2021, following an extension.