The Importance of Animation Community Events | Q&A with Animinspo Bristol
Today on Skwigly we begin a new series of articles focusing on the community building efforts of regular local animation events across the UK.
Animinspo started about two years ago and has since occurred almost every last Friday of each month. Founded by UWE Animation alumni Amber Lee and Léo Bournas Milazzo during their final year back in 2024, Animinspo has since found a permanent home on the cozy top floor of Small Bar, amidst the hustle and bustle of Bristol’s King Street.
Animinspo Event (Photo: Aiden Lee)
Amber is an animator and 3D artist who spent the last two years creating animations and motion designs for the medical industry. She is now moving into the freelancing world, as is Léo, who has been working with Aardman for the last year. He is a passionate storyteller and about to start working on his next stop-motion film. Skwigly had the chance to catch up with Amber and Léo about their journey with Animinspo and the importance of getting involved in community event organisation.
What is the philosophy behind Animinspo?
Léo: Animinspo started out of the desire to get feedback for the projects we were working on – much inspired by the sweatbox sessions the third years hosted when we started our first year at UWE Bristol. We wanted to do a weekly feedback session with our course to bring people together and get excited about the craft of animation. Then it naturally grew. At first we were doing it at uni and then industry professionals started showing up. There was an instance where someone couldn’t enter the building because they didn’t have a student ID so we decided to move to Small Bar after that.
Amber: We were both making films at the time and would both take our films to loads of individual people for feedback. We knew that work naturally improves when you get many eyes and perspectives on it. It is so easy to just get into your own head when you’re making work. We wanted to provide a space where people could have their work seen at the very early stages before it gets perfected.
Amber & Léo hosting Animinspo at the Arnolfini (Photo: Sam Dwyer)
This is a bit of a tricky question – because it changes constantly – but can you describe the Animinspo logo?
Léo: Our logo is Uncle Mayhem. He is a character on a unicycle who we like to think of as a shapeshifting, metamorphosizing character. We are all about the community and giving a voice to artists, therefore we wanted a logo that can be re-birthed by anyone. Basically, our logo is just the unicycle and someone’s version of something riding it. The artist that is headlining our event will reimagine Uncle Mayhem.
Uncle Mayhem – Animinspo Logo (Photo: Amber Lee)
You’ve been running Animinspo for over two years now, how has this experience impacted you and what have you learnt from organising regular community events?
Amber: Before Animinspo, we had animation friends here and there. Now I feel very immersed in the community and interlinked with everyone. Animinspo in it’s early days was a bit slap-dash. As it grew we also learnt a lot about business management and admin.
Léo: It has given me a tolerance for admin work and a new appreciation for Bristol and the amazing work that is coming out of this city. Like Amber said, we went from knowing individual artists to building this animation community. I have a lot of love and appreciation for that. Giving people a platform to share their work has been really nice. Especially seeing some people’s work improving over time and them taking on feedback and witnessing them grow confidence in their art and the way they talk about it.
Amber: There is a reason why we called it Animinspo. The original title of the event was Animation Inspiration. This sentiment is true for every single event: we come out of it feeling inspired! It shows what people are capable of creating as individuals or as groups. Being exposed to that keeps us motivated to make our own art. It is easy to feel burnt out from creating but when you have a place to share it, it keeps you energised. It has also given me more of a desire to help people. It is really powerful seeing how much you can have an impact by providing a platform.
What are your specific roles within the organisation of Animinspo and how do the volunteers support the event?
Amber: Léo and I do everything from organising files to emailing people and admin work, like setting up tickets. We split up admin and creative work equally between the two of us and each dip in and out of tasks like photography, videography or making posters and animations for the event. That’s how we’ve always done it. On the actual event days we have lots of people that help out. At a standard Small Bar event we sometimes have photographers, videographers, two people on the door and a handful of volunteers who help with the running of the event like for example Jonah who is our projectionist and tech-guy. He helps us setting up sound and projection and plays the videos throughout the night.
Léo: We have a massive team and bubble of excited people who really believe in this event and an amazing group of volunteers who help us set up, pack down and help bringing people in. It feels like a great little family and Amber and I have a nice dynamic as well.
Léo at Animinspo (Photo: Jonah Ling)
If anyone wanted to organise an Animinspo-like event in their city – what would be a piece of advise you can give them to create a space that brings the animation world together.
Both: Do it. Just do it!
Léo: For us it happened very naturally because we were already part of a great community of artists. Seeing what surrounds you, watering those seeds and that plot is quite a good way to approach it. Something that was crucial to get it off the ground was the community aspect. We’re all coming together and there is no pressure about being amazing. It is all about bringing people together, share work and discuss it. Something about that just makes it happen and means that people enjoy it. If I were to give a piece of advice to someone wanting to put on an event or pursue any sort of creative passion it would be: Build it and they will come. We just started doing it without seeking someone’s approval or anyone’s money. We just love it and that is why it’s happening. The passion for it keeps it alive.
Amber: I think we can both be quite perfectionist in our own work but running an event felt like we were trialling something new every time. You got to let go of perfectionism. Running regular events has made me realise that there isn’t a perfect time to do something you just got to do it. We just put the first one on and then improved it along the way.
Animinspo Poster: January Edition (Photo: Amber Lee)
Luzie from Skwigly went to this year’s June Animinspo and was immediately immersed in a fun and exciting evening of animation, presentations and a guest talk by Scribble Room founder Harry Slinger-Thompson. The top floor of Small Bar, decorated with cozy fairy lights, was packed with an audience eager to watch some animation and work in progress presentations. Luzie had the chance to speak to some Animinspo audience members and they all seem to share an appreciation for the diversity of animation projects, styles and approaches Animinspo includes in its programme. Luzie spoke to Erinn who recently started going to Animinspo.
Erinn: When you’re in the animation industry your mind can become warped by deadlines and notes. It is nice to see animation outside of that and meet the people who make it. You realise they are just normal people like everyone else and they can make wonderful things, which means I can make wonderful things too. It’s nice to speak to people and be inspired.
To round off our conversation with the Animinspo founders Amber and Léo Skwigly asked one final question: What are your future visions for Animinspo?
Amber: A big focus I would like to push for is to connect the network and help industry professionals who are in and out of contracts to connect with each other. Collaborations are also a really great way to connect the community. In the past, we collaborated with charities like the Birch Collective who we did an outdoor animation screening with.
Léo: I would love to continue to bring artists together, to share their work, get inspired together, grow confidence. That’s my vision for Animinspo. What we have got coming up are our monthly Animinspo sessions at Small Bar in Bristol, usually on the last Friday of the month. We also have a collaboration with Zinezilla coming up in September at Trinity Center. This will be our second Zinezilla collab and an awesome day of artists stalls, workshops and lots of films and talks.
Animinspo Picnic at Annecy 2026 (Photo: Amber Lee)
For more info on Animinspo, visit animinspo.com