[Commlist] Call for papers: animation- creativity, technology, audiences

Animation: creativity, technology, audiences

Special Issue
International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics

MCP celebrates 21 years in 2026 and invites contributions for Volume 22. 
MCP does NOT charge authors. Open  access possibilities are available 
under academic publishing industry standard conditions.

Dates
Submission of 500 word abstracts (choose the special issue on the 
submission website of the journal): May 4, 2026
Decision on acceptance: June 15, 2026
Full papers 7000 words : October 15, 2026.

Animation is at the nexus of creativity, technology and 
entrepreneurship. This is evident in its creative processes, business 
models and value chain, all of which operate in an ecosystem influenced 
by the interdependence of cultural, economic, business, technological 
and legal factors.  Audiences need to discover animated audiovisual 
works which is difficult in a saturated market. As platforms give access 
to content volume far beyond human consumption capacity, there are clear 
limitations in users’ attention. Here, algorithmic gatekeepers can be 
seen as enablers for content discovery. Interestingly, audiovisual 
discoverability has also become a policy issue at the European level and 
elsewhere (Canada, Australia). As such, a special focus should be paid 
on the technological, economic and market aspects that influence the 
ways in which audiences discover and watch animated audiovisual works, 
and the cultural contexts within which content is preferred, chosen or 
suggested.
This cfp is in collaboration with the international symposium Animation 
in Business/Business in Animation: Intellectual Property, Partnerships 
and Discoverability,  in Syros, during the Animasyros International 
Animation festival (September 2026).

Focal areas:
challenges and opportunities facing the animation industry in Europe and 
globally, with a particular focus on the management of intellectual 
property throughout the stages of creation, production, and 
distribution; generative AI tools in production pipelines; transmedia 
projects in designing, producing and distributing mixed media animations.

Assessment of  public regulatory sources informing and governing the 
European Animation Industry's activities; insights to the private 
regulatory sources  and their implications on the European Animation 
Industry;

Youth and children preferences regarding animated audiovisual works; 
focus on large animation film festivals to map diachronically the 
profiles of animation films that have been selected and awarded.

Gender imbalances  in the industry, in distribution of works and their 
discoverability; shortcomings consisting of gender inequality and 
uncritical views of the restricting role of IP for non (yet) 
professional experimentation and innovation, limiting wide 
democratically-based reach, outreach and access of cultural content in 
the form of animation;  persistent and under-reported obstacles to 
circulation of animated audiovisual works by women and/or young people 
in the animation industry.

Guest Editors:
Antonios Vlassis University of Liege
Panayiotis Kyriakoulakos University of 
Aegean https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-media-cultural-politics 
<https://www.intellectbooks.com/international-journal-of-media-cultural-politics>

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