If you're 16 plus, Māori, and interested in animation, Nikora Ngaropo wants to hear from you.
Nikora is a lead animation tutor at TORO Academy which is offering 27 young people a 16-week animation training course this October in Hamilton.
Nikora Ngaropo Photo: supplied
Aotearoa's animation companies are struggling to meet demand due to a worker shortage, says Ngaropo (Te Rarawa, Tuhoe, Ngāti Porou, Ngāti Kahungungu).
The TORO training programme, which he spent six years developing, has a firm focus on getting students "production-ready" as fast as possible.
"We trim the fat on all those things that could be theoretical and basically go for what can you put in practise right now and be part of [an animation team] as quickly as possible," he tells Jesse Mulligan.
The 27 students in the TORO Academy programme will have three tutors.
Anyone keen to find out about it can reach out to Ngaropo by email - kiaora@torostudios.co.nz
"We would love to hear from you. This is a great opportunity. We're investing about $15,000 in every student on this programme… We're really looking forward to getting some people into the [animation] industry who wouldn't have had that opportunity otherwise."
