Digital art collective Nouns is unveiling the single largest source of funding for independent animated shorts, urging animators around the globe to submit ideas for Nouns Fest, a short-film competition and festival that offers grants from a $1 million pool.
Beginning today, animators can submit ideas for consideration by a team of judges assembled by Nouns, the global artistic community that has deployed more than $50 million to fund open-source art, technology and public-goods projects.
Nouns Fest will fund shorts of varying lengths, with budgets ranging from $7,500 to $20,000. Ideas can be submitted at nounsfest.tv/apply. Final animated shorts must incorporate interpretations of one or more of the “Nouns” — digital art characters that are generated by Nouns and auctioned off daily at Nouns.wtf. Once funded, all rights to the animated shorts, concepts and characters will belong solely to creators, underscoring Nouns’ commitment to a free market of art and ideas.
Selected animated shorts will be presented at Nouns Fest this fall, which will bring together the animation, production and development communities for a celebration of independent animation. Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, which helped conceive the project and secure the involvement of Nouns, will produce three original shorts to debut at the festival.
“We’re excited to create a platform that allows artists from across the globe to bring their ideas to life,” says Nouns Fest co-founder and senior development executive Chris Waters. “Our goal is to empower and encourage animators — and give them total creative control.”
Stoopid Buddy co-founder Eric Towner is also a co-founder of Nouns Fest, which held its first animated shorts festival last year. “There’s no easy avenue for creators of animated shorts to get their work produced, and we wanted to change that,” Towner said. “At the same time, true creative freedom is at the core of what Nouns does, so it’s at the very core of what we’re doing.”
Nouns Fest is co-founded by Walter Newman, former head of development for Adult Swim; Nouns veteran Joel Cares; music executive Joshua Fisher; and award-winning animator and director Goldy.
Full details of the process of applying for grants in the Nouns Fest program, and rules governing the program, can be found at nounsfest.tv/apply. “We want to hear from the best, most creative, most exciting animators in the world, whether they work professionally or are seeking to break into the animation industry,” Waters said.
Of the short films accepted into the Nouns Fest project and fully produced, a total of 50 will be included in the Nouns Fest celebration this fall. The exact date and location of the Nouns Fest celebration will be announced in the spring.
Founded in 2021, Nouns is a global, community-run organization that uses the proceeds from the sale of digital collectibles to fund open-source technology, art and public-works projects. For more information and to learn about getting your project funded, visit nouns.wtf.
Nouns Fest is the evolution of Nouns Short Shorts, an animation competition and festival that led to the production of 17 animated short films in 2023. In June 2023, Nouns Fest held its first festival at BrainDead Studios in L.A., featuring work from some of the top independent animators in the world. Those shorts can be viewed at nounsfest.tv.