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Acts of kindness

Posted By Nico Franks On 17-02-2017 @ 3:35 pm In Features | Comments Disabled

This year’s Kidscreen in Miami saw an uptick in programming claiming to promote kindness as the children’s business moves forward with a renewed sense of social responsibility. Nico Franks reports.

Treasure Champs

Treasure Champs explores the values common to different faiths and cultures

President Donald Trump’s attempted ban on entry into the US for citizens from Muslim-majority countries such as Iraq and Iran for 90 days was never likely to have a marked impact on Kidscreen’s attendance numbers.

However, just as the controversial executive order triggered protests around the world, Trump’s ascendancy resulted in plenty of soul-searching among the global children’s entertainment industry when it descended upon Miami this week.

The wheels had been in motion well before Trump gained the keys to the White House, with big-name international broadcasters deciding at the Children’s Media Conference in Sheffield last summer to do something in reaction to the rise in hate crime following the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

BBC Children’s and Sky Kids are currently searching for international broadcasters to join them in co-financing a series of short films and idents that they have dubbed Project Hope [1], with the aim of encouraging kindness and empathy among children.

It marks a rare example of collaboration between the leading public and pay broadcasters in UK television and comes after repeated calls [2] for children’s broadcasters to grapple with the rifts in society that have grown bigger over the past year.

With children becoming increasingly exposed to issues such as war, natural catastrophes, gender intolerance and racism, the two broadcasters believe the kids’ media industry needs to step up to the plate.

Meanwhile, growing access to smartphones and social media means children are experiencing heightened levels of anxiety around self-image and bullying. With parents often struggling to make sense of the world around them today, it’s not hard to imagine how helpless a lot of children must feel.

Project Hope is being spearheaded by Alison Stewart, head of CBeebies Production at BBC Children’s, and Lucy Murphy, the first head of kids’ content at Sky, who were in Miami to gather support for the project.

Alison Stewart

Alison Stewart

“It’s neither a Sky nor a BBC initiative; it’s completely non-political,” said Stewart. “The whole idea behind it is that we will get buy-in from broadcasters, producers and media stakeholders around the world to help produce content that will be released to children by whatever means they have available.”

Stewart and Murphy were joined in Miami by UK children’s TV exec Marion Edwards, who left DreamWorks Animation at the end of last year, to help get other partners onboard the project.

“We already have pledges of support from several international broadcasters,” said Stewart, adding that the BBC and Sky still need more partners to make the project a reality. “The main thing is that the films will be made available to all the stakeholders at the same time. There’s no windowing. We want it to be global. There are areas of the world where the financing is not so easy to come by, but we want those films to be available there as well, so we’ll make sure that if people want them, they can have them.”

The aim is to commission the first films by the beginning of April and for the campaign to launch on International Children’s Day, November 20. It’s hoped the initial batch can be screened at the Children’s Global Media Summit in Manchester from December 4 to 7.

Of course, promoting kindness is nothing new in children’s programming, especially in the preschool demographic. But with broadcasters alert to the need for socially responsible programming, producers are increasingly pushing the elements of their shows that teach children compassion.

CBeebies recently commissioned Treasure Champs (30×15′) from Manchester-based indie Three Arrows Media, which is aimed at older preschoolers and explores the values common to different faiths and cultures such as generosity, empathy and honesty.

“Championing positive, common values has become increasingly important, both in society and education,” said Kay Benbow, controller of CBeebies, explaining the commission.

Juana la Iguana

Preschool toon Juana la Iguana is focused on promoting kindness

Meanwhile, Miami-based Tania Gilinski was at Kidscreen having partnered with former Nickelodeon UK exec Debbie MacDonald, Angela Salt of Liverpool’s Fun Crew and Manchester-based animation firm Flix to develop a new 2D animated series based on Juana la Iguana, a character that first appeared in the 1990s.

The eponymous 26×11′ series, of which a one-minute pilot is available, follows three best friends, including a little pirate, as they go on adventures with Juana and learn about the importance of kindness.

To emphasise the show’s focus on promoting kindness, Gilinski and her team organised a social media campaign on Wednesday with the hash tag #thekindnessmovement, fronted by YouTuber Jeannette Kaplun on Facebook Live.

“I’ve always felt we have a mission to make the world kinder. Juana has always done that but this year we thought it was important to have a movement,” Gilinski said.

“The examples our kids have today are not the best. I don’t want to say anything political, because we’re not political, but in a lot of leadership in our countries this is happening.

“Children’s TV characters have even more power than the parents with kids. And you can use that in such a good way.”

To hear more from this week’s event in Miami, click here [3] to listen to C21Kids’ latest Talking Shop, featuring the BBC’s Alison Stewart, Cartoon Network’s Pablo Zuccarino and Hulu’s Andrew Thomas.


Article printed from C21Media: https://www.c21media.net

URL to article: https://www.c21media.net/acts-of-kindness/

URLs in this post:

[1] Project Hope: https://www.c21media.net/bbc-sky-unite-to-help-children/

[2] repeated calls: https://www.c21media.net/progressive-programming/

[3] here: https://www.c21media.net/screenings/c21tv/the-caring-economy

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