Author Chris Riddell to Deliver CMC Keynote

SHEFFIELD: Current U.K. Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell has been tapped to deliver the Creative Keynote speech at the Children’s Media Conference (CMC) in July.

Riddell is a children’s illustrator and author who also serves as the political cartoonist for the Observer. In his role as the Children’s Laureate, Riddell has selected creative empowerment as his agenda for Britain’s children, and in his presentation for the 13th Creative Keynote at CMC, he will explore how to support youngsters’ visual creativity so that they can continue to draw their view of the world.

Greg Childs, the editorial director at CMC, said: “Chris Riddell is the perfect creative catalyst for CMC 2016 because his agenda is inclusive. He wants to make it happen for every kid who aspires creatively and he passionately believes that telling kids ‘they can’t’ or putting obstacles in their way is a form of discrimination.

“This resonates with our conference theme, and the growing awareness in the creative industries that it’s essential to ‘make it happen’ for diversity with non-stereotypical representation on screen and in products as well as inclusivity behind the scenes—in production teams and in the creative community. How can we make teams more reflective of the wide range of people in our audiences? Workshops, sessions and special Changemaker presentations throughout CMC will reflect the ‘Making it Happen’ agenda so we are thrilled that Chris will be making a uniquely audience-focused contribution to that discussion, in the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield on Wednesday, July 6.”

This year, the CMC will have a new mid-week format, running Tuesday, July 5 to Thursday, July 7. The event will begin with the annual CMC International Exchange, which brings together IP owners, producers, writers, interactive media specialists and service providers from the U.K. with broadcasters, distributors and funding agencies, and producers seeking co-production potential. The CMC’s first Open Space workshop and the Opening Keynote will also take place on July 5, followed by two days of conference sessions with multiple tracks delving into different aspects of children’s media content creation and delivery, including creative trends, business issues, strategic understanding, policy debates and more. CMC will conclude with the Closing Keynote.