Editor’s note: Please welcome Marianne Alvarez as our guest author. She’s very familiar with the Walt Disney Family Museum making her the perfect choice to attend this preview. If you want more from Marianne, follower her on Twitter. It’s hard to believe that almost 10… Read More »10 Years of Magic: The Walt Disney Family Museum previews 2019 season
If you ever make it to San Francisco you owe it to yourself to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum. In order to maintain the high quality of exhibits, special programs, and its fantastic building in the Presidio area, the organization holds a special fundraising… Read More »Walt Disney Family Museum honors John Lasseter in gala event
Somewhere among all the toys, photos with family members and presidents of the free world, and hawaiian shirts is John Lasseter a man at the top of his game. Lasseter started his career at Disney Animation (and before that was a Jungle Cruise Skipper at… Read More »John Lasseter to be Honored at The Walt Disney Family Museum 2017 Gala
Marty Sklar parlayed his job at UCLA’s Daily Bruin newspaper into a position writing The Disneyland News for the park’s opening. Eventually he joined the park’s publicity team and found his way to WED Enterprises, which we now call Walt Disney Imagineering. Before left he… Read More »Disney Legend Marty Sklar to be honored by Walt Disney Family Museum at Gala
For Richard Sherman, the past year has been among the most rewarding he’s experienced. Even at age 87, he’s still sharing his unique ability touch audiences from cradle to grave with songs he wrote with his brother Robert, other collaborators or by himself. The beloved… Read More »PBS Special Caps a Wonderful Year for Disney Composer Richard Sherman
For most of next year, patrons attending the Walt Disney Family Museum will be treated to a first-ever retrospective exhibit from one of Walt Disney’s world class animators – Mel Shaw. Shaw’s influence on Disney animation ranged from the late 1930s through the 1990s. He… Read More »The Walt Disney Family Museum hosts a new exhibit “Mel Shaw: An Animator on Horseback”
The Walt Disney Family Museum just announced a new advisory committee to complement its Board of Directors. The committee is made up of eleven extraordinary individuals, some with connections to the Disney legacy, some independent, whose personal and professional achievements and experience will provide important strategic guidance for the museum. Among the new members are animator Andreas Deja, producers Don Hahn, and Pixar Animation Studios creative genius John Lasseter.
The museum’s Advisory Committee is made up of the following distinguished members:
Andreas Deja first applied for a job as a Disney animator at the age of 10. Born in Poland and raised in Germany, he recalls writing the Studios immediately after seeing The Jungle Book. The Studios wrote back to Andreas explaining that there were no openings, but they were always on the lookout for new talent. At the age of 20, Andreas applied again and was accepted. Andreas began his Disney career working with Eric Larson, one of the legendary “Nine Old Men,” and went on to work on animated films such as The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, Oliver & Company, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Andreas oversaw the animation of Triton in The Little Mermaid, Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, Scar in The Lion King, Mickey Mouse in Runaway Brain, the title character in Hercules, and Lilo in Lilo & Stitch. In 2007, Andreas was honored with the Winsor McKay Award from the International Animated Film Association.
Don Hahn is producer of the worldwide phenomenon The Lion King and the classic Beauty and the Beast, the first animated film nominated for a Best Picture Oscar. Don is Executive Producer of the acclaimed Disneynature Films Earth, Oceans, African Cats,and Chimpanzee, and Disney’s Maleficent starring Angelina Jolie. Don’s other credits include Hunchback of Notre Dame, Atlantis, Fantasia 2000, and The Emperor’s New Groove. Don’s books on animation, art, and creativity include the best seller Brain Storm, the acclaimed educational series Drawn To Life: The Complete Works of Walt Stanchfield, and the much anticipated Before Ever After: The Lost Lectures of Disney’s Animation Studio due out in the fall of 2015. Don also serves on the Board of Directors of PBS SoCal.
John Lasseter maintains creative oversight of all films and associated projects from Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, and Disneytoon Studios, and is involved in a wide range of activities at Walt Disney Imagineering. John made his directorial debut in 1995 with Toy Story, the world’s first feature-length computer-animated film. John also directed A Bug’s Life (1998), Toy Story 2 (1999), Cars (2006) and Cars 2 (2011). John has executive produced all Pixar features since Monsters, Inc. (2001). To date, Pixar’s films have earned more than $8.5 billion in gross box-office receipts. Since assuming creative oversight of Walt Disney Animation Studios in 2006, John has served as executive producer on all of its feature films and serves as executive producer for Disneytoon Studios’ films. In John’s role as Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, John was instrumental in bringing Radiator Springs to life with the successful 2012 launch of Cars Land, a massive 12-acre expansion of Disney California Adventure Park. Prior to the formation of Pixar in 1986, John was a member of the computer division of Lucasfilm Ltd. John was part of the inaugural class of the character animation program at California Institute of the Arts and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in film in 1979.Read More »Walt Disney Family Museum assembles Advisory Committee
The Annie Awards, which honor excellence in animation in film, video, and television, were held last night, and Disney won many of its categories in TV, but got snubbed when it came to the movies.
Big Hero 6 was nominated for Best Animated Feature, and Outstanding Achievement Directing in an Animated Feature Production, but lost in both categories to Dreamwork’s How to Train Your Dragon 2. Last year, Disney won both categories on the strength of the blockbuster film, Disney’s Frozen. Big Hero 6 did walk away with one award, for Animated Effects in an Animated Production. Baymax would be proud.
Disney did much better with television, winning eight trophies overall. Five of them went to the Disney Channel’s “Disney Mickey Mouse” show, which had the second-most wins of any title.
The Walt Disney Family Museum also won the evening’s Special Achievement Award, which recognizes the unique and significant impact the winner has had on the art and industry of animation.
Here are all the Annie Awards that Disney won on January 31, 2015:Read More »Disney Wins Several Awards at the 42nd Annual Annie Awards