TVBEurope catches up with ACCESS:VFXs founder Simon Devereux and new European chapter lead Chris Kiser to talk about the need for a European-wide organisation aiming to promote diversity and mentoring within the visual effects industry
By Jenny Priestley
Published: January 26, 2023
TVBEurope catches up with ACCESS:VFX's founder Simon Devereux and new European chapter lead Chris Kiser to talk about the need for a European-wide organisation aiming to promote diversity and mentoring within the visual effects industry
target=_blank title=Share on LinkedIn class=share-linkedin>
In late 2022, non-profit visual effects coalition ACCESS:VFX announced plans to launch a new European chapter that will build on its mission to promote diversity within the VFX industry.
The new chapter is led by Glassworks' chief operating officer, Chris Kiser, with the support of ACCESS:VFX founder and director, Simon Devereux,
TVBEurope caught up with them both to talk about their plans for the European chapter, the need for mentoring in the visual effects industry, and how Netflix came on board to sponsor the new chapter.
Access:VFX originally launched in 2017. How has it been going? Simon Deveraux: I always say we started by accident. It was never the plan to launch a global movement. It started as an event in London off the back of the work that I'd done at The Mill, London, where we did a National Inclusion Week 2016, and we created this conversation that had never happened before about inclusion. After we delivered that event, the following year in 2017, UK Screen did a diversity survey, and we got into this whole conversation around inclusion and diversity. I just said, look, we could do this as an industry, let's do an industry inclusion week and that's what we did. We got a small group of studios together, planned an event and long story short we delivered the event.
Since then, we've been running loads of events. Not long after we launched Access:VFX UK, New York got interested, and then the West Coast came along and Chicago got involved. Now we have chapters in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Chris and I have been talking about Europe for a long time. It's taken a while for it to get off the ground. It just felt like a natural move to do some good in Europe.
Chris, you were obviously already aware of Access:VFX, and now you're getting very much involved in launching it into Europe. Why do you think Access:VFX needs a European chapter? Chris Kiser: It was a logical next step in many ways. I suppose you can't go without acknowledging a Brexit factor in terms of suddenly the UK having more of a separation from mainland Europe as it relates to organisations and some of the logistics around what happens with what Access:VFX does in terms of activities and outreach and support. Glassworks joined as a member company as our headquarters is based in the UK, but since we have offices both in Amsterdam and Barcelona I started speaking to Simon pretty early on about what else we could do and what would we need to do to make it official and to plant the Access:VFX flag on the European side of things.
We kind of understood that there were legal requirements particular to the mentorship platform that meant we needed to spend some resources on laying the groundwork to make the platform available in what we identified as eight specific countries: the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Denmark and Sweden. With those eight countries, we can officially accept mentees from 18 and up and the platform can support them and do the identity verification and things required for this mentor-and-mentee relationship to begin. There's an amazing community of VFX artists and creators in Europe that branches across various countries, and so we want to make both studios and individuals that are in the industry aware of Access:VFX as a group and organisation looking to support and grow diversity in the next generation of people entering the industry.
What are your aims for Access:VFX Europe, and how might they differ from the other chapters that we've already talked about?
Simon: Chris touched on community earlier. I've worked for a number of creative sectors over the years. I'm always so taken by the community that exists within visual effects, animation and games. I would challenge any other industry to set up an organisation like Access:VFX. Try and do it in advertising and it just wouldn't happen because it's so adversarial. Look at any big TV show, or a piece of episodic content, and there's always so many different studios working on the same show on different shots. So that's the nature of the beast, we're all working towards the same goal.
With Access:VFX Europe, the mentees won't just get connected to European mentors from European studios. They can get connected to anybody from any of the chapters, because it's e-mentoring. So the way we designed the programme back in the day was you don't necessarily have to actually speak to your mentor. You share your work and you respond to it in your own time and whatever time zone you're in. I don't think the aims differ globally. It's just another addition to what is a really rich, creative community.
Chris: I agree. The only additional thing that I think is sort of unique now and differs from existing chapters is the language barrier and removing that and giving people who may not speak English or have limited abilities to speak English access to industry veterans that speak their native tongue. That is such a unique situation that I'm really excited about. There could be a mentor or a mentee out there somewhere that has been waiting to have that level of connection with someone and suddenly this creates that opportunity.
There's an
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
09/10/2026
nxtedition will exhibit for the first time at Asias Broadcasting & Infotainment Show (A.B.I.S) in Mumbai, bringing its integrated production platform and latest...
09/10/2026
Today's AI Isn't the Answer
Andy Marken October 8, 2026
0 Comments
Let's say you're telling the truth, and this is all a dream. - Do...
09/10/2026
Ikegami to Introduce New UHK-X700VN Camera at NAB New York, Offering Advanced Cr...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
09/10/2026
Witness world firsts, new arrivals and the work that goes on behind the scenes a...
09/10/2026
September 10 2026, 06:00 (PDT) Dolby Expands Dolby OptiView Platform with New Capabilities at IBC 2026
New Sports Intelligence helps providers better unders...
08/10/2026
Modern venues have come a long way since the tinny, echoing audio of the mid 20t...
08/10/2026
ESPN's first Super Bowl production will stream in English and Spanish on Disney+, while the ESPN App carries the full slate of game, ManningCast, studio, an...
08/10/2026
From high-school videoboards to War Eagle Productions, the Opelika native is learning how to lead shows and capture big moments
The future of live sports produ...
08/10/2026
The Television Academy and Prime Video have announced a six-year agreement making Prime Video the exclusive global home of the Emmy Awards beginning with the 20...
08/10/2026
Techex will exhibit at NAB Show New York 2026 (Booth 623, Javits Center, October...
08/10/2026
X Games has announced the appointment of Steve Rogers as Chief Operating Officer. Rogers previously served as COO of World Supercross and spent nearly a decade ...
08/10/2026
Fonn Group has appointed Trevor Spielmann as Sales Director for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Spielmann joins from EVS, where he held sales and business de...
08/10/2026
The flagship program will originate from major PG events with a four-camera production, live distribution across PGTV, social platforms
Perfect Game is bringin...
08/10/2026
Innovation rarely happens in a vacuum. More often, it happens at the point of collision: when worlds that have run on separate tracks begin to converge. That is...
08/10/2026
For decades, the production and broadcast services business has run on a familia...
08/10/2026
Uplynk, Zixi, BroadView Software, and Grass Valley have published The IP Converg...
08/10/2026
The NFL has announced the return of the Big Data Bowl, the league's analytics competition, now in its ninth year and again powered by AWS. Registration is o...
08/10/2026
Eutelsat has renewed its partnership with T l diffusion d'Alg rie (TDA), Algeria's national broadcasting network operator, for continued distribution of...
08/10/2026
Disney will livestream Super Bowl LXI on February 14, 2027, alongside the game's broadcast on ESPN and ABC. All Disney subscribers in the United States wi...
08/10/2026
RHStv and Red House Streaming have announced an expansion of their partnership w...
08/10/2026
Gray Media has announced a distribution agreement with TEGNA and DAZN to simulca...
08/10/2026
SVG readers can save 10% on registration and receive a complimentary Solutions H...
08/10/2026
PROTON Camera Innovations GmbH has been named a recipient of a 2026 Technology a...
08/10/2026
Industry leaders discuss real-world cloud workflows for live game production, pl...
08/10/2026
The next-gen audio technology joins Dolby Vision as part of Apple TV's immersive F1 experience...
08/10/2026
David France, Jesse Short Bull, Mato Wayuhi, N. Bird Runningwater, Jodi Archambau, Jhane Myers, Paul McGuire, Amber Morning Star Byars, Holly Macarro, Nick Tils...
08/10/2026
Dynamic panning plug-ins get an upgrade
Sound Particles have just announced major updates for two of their popular dynamic panning plug-ins. Energy Panner 2...
08/10/2026
New expandable instrument boasts full DMNO engine
UDO Audio have just announced the upcoming release of a new, expandable synth that packs the power of the ...
08/10/2026
Two new subwoofers added to monitoring line-up
ADAM Audio's monitoring range has just been expanded with two new DSP-equipped subwoofers, the Sub8 PRO a...
08/10/2026
eds3_5_jq(document).ready(function($) { $(#eds_sliderM519).chameleonSlider_2_1({ content_source:......
08/10/2026
Calrec gives broadcasters freedom of choice at NAB Show New York We're looking forward to meeting up with you all at NAB New York on 21st-22nd October.
Cal...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Globecast, a leading provider of broadcast, media and entertainment managed services, will showcase its next generation of media orchestration services at NAB S...
08/10/2026
Clear-Com played a critical role in the production communications infrastructure for Rock in Rio 2026, one of the world's largest and most recognized music...
08/10/2026
Sohonet Launches ClearView Rush: A Leap Forward in Studio Review, Built for Crea...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
08/10/2026
Ikegami announces a major expansion to its range of broadcast-quality live production cameras. Scheduled for introduction on Ikegami booth 708 at NAB New York, ...
TVBEurope catches up with ACCESS:VFXs founder Simon Devereux and new European chapter lead Chris Kiser to talk about the need for a European-wide organisation aiming to promote diversity and mentoring within the visual effects industry
