About BYU Animation
The BYU Animation Program is a dynamic program that blends storytelling, artistry, problem solving, and collaboration to prepare students for thriving careers in the animation, special effects, and game industries. Through hands-on projects that emphasize teamwork, and guided by dedicated faculty, students enhance their creative narratives and hone their artistic skills.
Students may gain entrance into the program through the Animation BFA or Computer Science (CS): Animation and Games Emphasis. Both programs are closed enrollment. To prepare students for the application, the program provides pre-major classes. An average of 30% of Animation BFA applicants are accepted, while an average of 50% of CS Animation Emphasis applicants are accepted. Accepted applicants are generally proficient with drawing and design principles, and possess strong 3D sensibilities.
Throughout the three years that follow acceptance, students increase their skills and develop an eye for design through hard work, experience, and teamwork. As an integral part of the program, collaboration is the basis for most of the classes, as well as the senior capstone projects. By the end of the program students have experience learning and working within a full pipeline, in addition to working within their chosen specialized teams.
From Humble Beginnings...
Architectural designer R. Brent Adams was teaching evening design classes at BYU and championed the creation of a BYU animation program. Donors, including Arizona home-builder Ira A. Fulton, provided the funding and supercomputer to establish the program in 2010.
During the program's first year, students won both a Student Emmy from the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and a Student Academy Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Students continue to dominate these competitions and have also won other awards, such as the Nickelodeon’s Producers’ and Viewers’ Choice Awards, and have been invited to show at Sundance, Cannes, and Annecy.
The Center for Animation now operates under the direction of three colleges— the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering, the College of Fine Arts and Communications, and the College of Computational, Mathematical, and Physical Sciences.
What industry leaders are saying about our program:
“It’s the perception not just of Pixar, but also at the other studios, that something pretty remarkable is happening here.” -Ed Catmull, co-founder of Pixar and former President of Walt Disney Animation Studios, in a speech on BYU Campus
“Honestly, the first few times I went to Provo, I was like: What am I doing here? I’m a little Jewish girl from back East. But I was just amazed by how absolutely lovely those kids are. They couldn’t be nicer, humbler, more respectful. It’s a pleasure. And when they come here, they stay that way.” -Marilyn Friedman, former Head of Outreach at DreamWorks
“It means there’s a maturity level there. If I’m a senior executive and I want to get people on my team, they’ve got to be hard-working and serious people. They’ve got to understand that this is a business— it’s not just art for art’s sake. The kids coming out of B.Y.U., they’ve got that box checked.” -Barry Weiss, former Senior Vice President at Sony Animation and longtime Animation Executive
“...If we can add something to the culture that makes people think about being better human beings — more productive, more kind, more forgiving — that’s what we want to do.” -Brent Adams, founder of the BYU Center for Animation
