WIA Student COLLECTIVES

WIA recognizes the importance for animation, VFX, and gaming students to build meaningful connections with each other as they work to enter the industry. To that end, WIA Student Collectives are school-specific groups (virtual and/or in-person) that help their members:
- Connect to people who share the same passion for animation, VFX, and/or gaming
- Develop leadership skills
- Build and/or expand a professional industry network
- Stay inspired
NOTE:ย WIA Student Collectives must be approved by WIA Global and approval must be renewed on an annual basis.
Important Dates
September 14, 2023
General orientation for students who are interested in starting a new WIA Student Collective or renewing one
October 6, 2023
Applications due
October 25, 2023
Student Collective Leads Meet-And-Greet
February
Mid-year report due
May
End-of-year report due and end-of-year celebration
Dates are subject to change; events may be added or removed as needed.
COLLECTIVE Goals
Why Form A Student Collective?
As animation continues to reach audiences of diverse age, gender, ethnicity, abilities and culture, so does the need to ensure that animation content represents the world as it should be โ a world where people of diverse genders are meaningfully represented, both behind the scenes and on the screen, to move culture forward. You can help make this vision a reality by stepping up as a leader to grow and empower like-minded members at your school. Leading a WIA community can be a rewarding experience in a variety of ways, including:
- Giving back to the community you love
- Empower women (cis and trans) and nonbinary students who want to get into the industry
- Building your leadership skills
- Growing your professional network
COLLECTIVE REQUIREMENTS
- Commitment to one full school year of leadership by Collective leaders
- NOTE: Each Student Collective should have at least two co-leads. Responsibilities can be split up, but Collectives with only one identified leader are less likely to be approved.
- Minimum of at least 3 events per year (virtual or in-person)
- Maintain consistent member outreach via rand social media and a newsletter (can be as simple as an email).
- Attend the annual All Student Collectives meeting
- Submit a simple, brief mid-year report and end-of-year report
WIA Student Collectives
The Student Collectives listed below are still required to renew their Collective annually to be considered active.ย
Contact WIA if you are unsure of your Collective’s Status.
- Academy of Art University (@wia_Artu)
- Animation Mentor (@wia_animationmentor)
- Arizona State University (@wia.asu)
- California Institute of the Arts: CalArts
- Chapman University (@wia_chapman)
- East Carolina University
- Exceptional Minds
- Kansas City Art Institute (@wia.kcai)
- Kennesaw State University (@wia.ksu)
- Laguna College of Art and Design (@wia.lcad)
- Lipscomb University (@wia.lipscombuni)
- Maine College of Art and Design (@wia_mecad)
- Moore College of Art and Design (@mooreaniclub)
- Otis College of Art and Design (@wia_otis)
- Pratt Institute (@wia_pratt)
- Purdue University (@wia.purdue)
- Ringling College of Art of Art and Design (@wia.rcad)
- RMIT Animation Club โ a WIA Student Club (@weanimateclub)
- Rochester Institute of Technology (@wia.rit)
- San Jose State University (@wia_sjsu)
- Savannah College of Art and Design (@wia_scad)
- School of Visual Arts (@wia_sva)
- Seneca College of Art and Design (@wia.seneca)
- Sheridan College (@wia_sheridan)
- Texas A&M University- College Station (@tamu.wia)
- University of Central Florida (@wia_ucf)
- University of North Carolina at Charlotte (@wia.uncc)
- University of Pennsylvaniaย (@wia_at_penn)
- University of San Franciscoย (@wia_usfca)
- University of Southern Californiaย (@wia.usc)
- University of Texas at Dallasย (@wia_utdallas)