News
Updates on what's been going on at Quickdraw, and in the wider animation community.
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NO FREE SWIM Family Day Weekend 2025
Quickdraw Animation Society will be closed over Family Day weekend, February 15-17, 2025.
NO FREE SWIM for the next two weeks
our QuickKids are taking our classroom by storm!
GIRAF20 Awards
We’re proud to share the winners of this year’s jury and audience awards for GIRAF20!
NO FREE SWIM or DROP IN: GIRAF20
We will be in and out, and won't be able to support any drop ins until GIRAF20 is over!
NO FREE SWIM Thanksgiving 2024
Quickdraw Animation Society will be closed over the Thanksgiving weekend of October 12 - 14, 2024
NO FREE SWIM for Sept 21&28
Quickdraw is popular and we're booked up for third party workshops!
NO FREE SWIM: Fresh Frames at the Library!
We're closed cause we're all at the library to watch some amazing youth films!
NO FREE SWIM: August 31
Quickdraw is closed over the long weekend!
A look at the films that gave us genuine Flashbacks to the wonderful years of Lockdowns, all made throughout the May Long weekend this year.
NO FREE SWIM: July 6
The QAS staff needs to recover after our Reunion weekend
QAS's 40th Reunion EVENT POSTED!
Join us in celebrating 40 years of Quickdraw!
NO FREE SWIM: June 8th
We're gearing up for our 40th anniversary reunion (event To be Posted!) and need the classroom for some preparations!
QAS Seeking Hamish Drawings!
Submit your version of Hamish D. Rat to be included on our 40th anniversary commemorative fundraiser t-shirt!
NO FREE SWIM: April 20&27
The end of the semester means the classroom is booked for final project creation!
NO FREE SWIM: QAS closed for Easter Weekend
Hamish has some serious egg hiding to do! Spring Camp will run on Friday, but otherwise QAS will be closed Mar29-Apr1
QAS 2023 Holiday Closure Notice
The annual Quickdraw Staff hibernation has been announced! December 17 - January 15
GIRAF19 Awards
We’re proud to share the winners of this year’s jury and audience prizes at GIRAF 19!
NO FREE SWIM: Remembrance Day
Quickdraw will be closed for Remembrance Day Holiday
Quickdraw will be closed in honour of those those who survived the residential schools, and those who didn't make it home.
Join us at the Calgary Central Library for the youth screening!
We're all going to be out of office to join the end of the BUMP festival, come on by!
QAS Closed: August Long Weekend
We'll be back on August 8th!
Animation Lockdown: WHIPLASH Edition Awards!
A look at the films that made us do double (sometimes triple) takes at our WHIPLASH Lockdown Screening event on June 17th!
QAS 2023 AGM announcement!
Join us on Zoom to talk about Quickdraw's past year and future plans!
Quickdraw's May-long-weekend Hours
Due to our Animation Lockdown, we'll be taking a quick break afterwards to recharge!
NO Free Swim Notice
Free Swim will be back again on May 13th!
QAS Closed for the Easter Weekend
We will be back in the office again on Tuesday, April 11th!
Save the Post - Summer Job postings soon!
Heads up - QAS will be hiring! We’ll be looking for up to 4 folks to fill positions in April-August 2023. More details and an official call for applications will be coming soon!
2021/22 SuperCut
Taking a look back at 2021 and 2022 Quickdraw Life.
NOTICE: NO Free Swim February 18, 2023
Have a great long Family Day Weekend!
Animation Lockdown: IMPÖSSIBLE SHÅPES awards
Time to take a look back at the amazing Animation Lockdown 2022: IMPOSSIBLE SHAPES edition and see which film came out on top of the Penrose Triangle!
Quickdraw Holiday 2022 Schedule
We're getting close to the Quickdraw staff hibernation season! Closed Dec 18 - Jan 14
GIRAF18 Awards
We’re proud to share the winners of this year’s jury and audience prizes at GIRAF 18!
The QAS Board is thrilled to announce that Val Duncan has been hired as our new Executive Director!
QAS Summer 2022 Hours
It’s been a busy time at Quickdraw over the last few months, and we wanted to give an update for what to expect for our summer hours: we are hoping to open our doors and return to Saturday Free Swim! Read on for details --
Animation Link Roundup: April 12, 2022
3D scanning on your phone, a new "Innovation Centre" in Calgary, and an adorable trailer, plus other news from the world of animation
Arts Opportunities: April 1, 2022
Jobs at cSPACE, SAAG and the NMC, screening opportunities with the Calgary Black Film Festival, a Downtown Activation Grant, and national and municipal funding opportunities
Arts Opportunities: March 25, 2022
GIF contest, grant deadlines and free artistic "utensils" — here are the arts opportunities in Calgary this week.
Animation Link Roundup: March 19, 2022
GLAS and Annecy announce 2022 selections, Kate Beaton gets an AppleTV+ series, Animation Magazine chronicles Cartoon Movie, and AWN dives into the history of one of Canadian animation's most prominent studios
Animation Link Roundup: March 19, 2022
GLAS and Annecy announce 2022 selections, Kate Beaton gets an AppleTV+ series, Animation Magazine chronicles Cartoon Movie, and AWN dives into the history of one of Canadian animation's most prominent studios
Arts Opportunities: March 18, 2022
Calls for artworks and residencies, job postings, and educational workshops are all part of this week's roundup of professional opportunities for Calgary animators
Arts Opportunities: March 14, 2022
The return of CUFF's 48-hour filmmaking challenge, opportunities for queer and Indigenous creators, and a job posting from our neighbours at EMMEDIA round out this week's offerings
Animation Link Roundup: March 5, 2022
A bit of a short round-up this week. It's almost like there's some more significant news out there.
Arts Opportunities: March 4, 2022
This week's opportunities include a call for submisisons for an Earth Day zine, sessional work at AUArts, and info on CADA's upcoming project grants
Arts Opportunities: February 25, 2022
Media arts awards, emerging artist scholarships, artist talks and community check-ins make up this week's arts opportunities for Calgary artists
Animation Link Roundup: February 19, 2022
A new video from Chad VanGaalen, behind the scenes of the opening credits of Netflix's The House, shakeups at the NFB, and other news from the world of animation
Arts Opportunities: February 18, 2022
An incubator program for Black filmmakers, a remote ani-jam in Halifax, and a series of creative economy strategic workshops round out this week's Calgary (and remote) arts opportunities
Animation Link Roundup: February 12, 2022
A new video from Chad VanGaalen, behind the scenes of the opening credits of Netflix's The House, shakeups at the NFB, and other news from the world of animation
Arts Opportunities: February 11, 2022
A shorter collection this week, but still some interesting opportunities, including permanent roles at CADA, summer internships, and more festival deadlines
Animation Link Roundup: February 5, 2022
A restoration of a bizarro Romanian sci-fi gem, fusing mo-cap and animation pipelines in Unreal, GIRAF selections winning awards, and other news from the world of animation
Arts Opportunities: February 4, 2022
An odd assortment of job postings and calls for submissions this week, including zombie Jesus, arts mentorships, festival calls and potential murals
GIRAF18 Call for Submissions
We're looking for independent and artful animated films to share with our audience in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Animation Link Roundup: January 29, 2022
A teaser for Guillermo's Pinocchio, behind the scenes of an Apple II classic, feature film announcements, and a first glimpse at Studio Ghibli's theme park
Animation Link Roundup: January 22, 2022
The Calgary-shot Fraggle Rock reboot is out! Plus trailers for Inu-Oh, Shenmue the Animation, and The Cuphead Show, animated GLAAD Media Award nominees, and other news from the world of animation
Arts Opportunities: Jan. 21, 2022
Plenty of interesting opportunities this week, including calls for Calgary festivals, mentorship and scholarships for Alberta media artists, an international residency at Hiroshima, and a chance to help steer the Alberta animation and VFX industry
Animation Link Roundup: December 18, 2021
Trailers for Netflix's The House and Cuphead's latest DLC, plus Slovenian stop-motion, awards announcements, Makato Shinkai's new feature, and Bugs Bunny vs. The Walrus
So that was 2021
A look back on a year full of preparation and anticipation—with more than its share of bright spots along the way
Animation Link Roundup: December 11, 2021
New trailers from Studio Ponoc and Sony animation, deleted scenes from Bojack Horseman, and new uploads of classic Sally Cruickshank round out this week's quick links
2021 Holiday Closure
We'll have limited availability from Dec. 19 through January 17—thanks for your patience, and happy holidays!
Animation Link Roundup: December 4, 2021
All-star tutorials, stop-motion interviews, industry news, and other items that caught our eye this week.
Calgary Arts Opportunities: Dec. 3, 2021
This week's volunteer opportunities and job postings in the local arts community
GIRAF17 Press Round-Up
Collecting the kind words that were said about our online animation festival
GIRAF17 Audience Awards
The numbers have been crunched, and we can say with mathematical certainty that these were your favourite films
GIRAF17 Jury Awards
After hours of viewing and careful deliberation, it's time to announce the winners of this year’s jury prizes at GIRAF17
Five Facts About GIRAF17
We’ve been focusing so much on the films and artists in this year’s festival that we might’ve missed mentioning a few details, so here are five things you might not know about GIRAF17
Animation Link Roundup: October 23, 2021
Trailers for two new Netflix features, and news from the world of independent animation.
Weekly Link Roundup: October 1, 2021
A/R gets a boost, Dozens of North gets a release date, and EMMEDIA is hiring a new Artistic Director
Weekly Link Roundup: September 17, 2021
Laika's next project, film restoration, and an interview with King Gizzard
Weekly Link Roundup: September 10, 2021
Four news stories that caught our eye this week
Weekly Link Roundup: September 3, 2021
A brief glimpse at what's happening in the world of animation
Weekly Link Roundup: August 27, 2021
Interesting tidbits from the world of animation
Weekly Link Roundup: August 13, 2021
Four quick links on animation developments that caught our eye
Fall courses announced
We know you've been waiting patiently, and we are happy to say registrations are open now
Producing key-holding members can have access, but we're taking the long weekend off in observation of Canada Day
Make sure to check out the entire festival, but we want to gush about the amazing features we've secured for GIRAF this November!
Have a great winter break! Quickdraw will be closed Dec 15 - Jan 13
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