
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 ...
07/10/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, today announced the latest Long-Term Supported (LTS) release of Dalet Flex. Build...
06/09/2026
June 9 2026, 23:00 (PDT) Dolby and MagentaTV Bring Fans Closer to the FIFA Worl...
04/09/2026
Media organisations interested in the Media Innovation Europe 3.0 Business Innovation Synergizer (BIS) can now consult a new FAQ document providing additional a...
04/09/2026
Eluvio will demonstrate updates to its Content Fabric platform at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.MS5, and Future Tech Zone, Hall 14, Stand 14.A58, September 11-14). C...
04/09/2026
LiveU has joined the IBC Accelerator's Smart Stories consortium, a multi-vendor initiative developing an open standard for Story Context interoperability in...
04/09/2026
Telos Alliance will demonstrate new audio observability capabilities at IBC2026 (Stand 8.D37, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), covering monitoring of audio heal...
04/09/2026
World Team Tennis (WTT) has announced a broadcast partnership with USA Sports, the sports division of Versant. USA Sports will air all six of WTT's live mat...
04/09/2026
Gravity Media has appointed Alex Pannell as Chief Business Officer. Pannell joins from Appear, where he served as Chief Commercial Officer. He will be based in ...
04/09/2026
Dalet has announced new agentic workflow capabilities for Dalia, its AI platform for media organizations, ahead of IBC2026. The updates extend Dalia from an AI ...
04/09/2026
L-Acoustics has achieved EN 54 certification across a portfolio of loudspeakers,...
04/09/2026
EVS and Matrox Video have announced a technology partnership integrating Matrox ...
04/09/2026
NEP Group will exhibit at IBC2026 (Hall 7, Stand 7.B55, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating software-defined production capabilities across NEP Platf...
04/09/2026
The Television Academy has awarded an Engineering Emmy to Dr. Roman Foltyn, Chief Engineer of FoMaSystems, and Curt O. Schaller for the development of the ARRI ...
04/09/2026
InSync Technology will exhibit at IBC2026 (Stand 1.A55, RAI Amsterdam, September 11-14), demonstrating its FrameFormer and NOVA conversion platforms for frame r...
04/09/2026
The Professional Triathletes Organisation (PTO) has signed a multi-year agreemen...
04/09/2026
Accedo and MediaKind have announced a white-label, end-to-end streaming solution for operators, combining Accedo's native application framework and cloud-ba...
04/09/2026
TAG Video Systems has announced TAG Blue, a cloud platform for shared monitoring visibility across video delivery chains, with AI-powered root-cause analysis. T...
04/09/2026
TwelveLabs has launched a video compliance platform for media organizations, inc...
04/09/2026
The Television Academy and the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences ha...
04/09/2026
Powerful new soft synth announced
Traveler is the first software instrument to be released by KeySolutions Sounds, and it's an ambitious one! Said to co...
04/09/2026
Free virtual instrument range expanded
The latest expansion of e-instruments' free Fragments series introduces a packed-down version of the company'...
04/09/2026
Company recognised for second time
Two years after winning an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy Award for dxRevive Pro, Accentize have been recognised ...
04/09/2026
Bilbao - 3rd September 2026 -AgileTV, a leading provider of end-to-end TV and vi...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
ACEMAGIC First to Introduce Ryzen AI Max PRO 495 AI Mini Workstation at IFA 202...
04/09/2026
Krotos Brings Video to Sound Footsteps Directly into Premiere Pro and DaVinci Re...
04/09/2026
RED DIGITAL CINEMA Comes Out Swinging at IBC 2026 with Next-Generation Live Broa...
04/09/2026
Orty v2.0-web - the cold-outreach assistant moves to the web
Brie Clayton September 4, 2026
0 Comments
Orty today announced v2.0-web of its AI cold-ou...
04/09/2026
Lightware is expanding its LARA (Lightware Advanced Room Automation) platform with the GUDE Power Distribution Units (PDU) driver module. GUDE devices can now b...
04/09/2026
Lightware shares the second release in its ESG communications series. Following the first piece, which focused on the companys environmental performance, this r...
04/09/2026
Big Blue Marble supported a leading European public service broadcaster in delivering the Soccer World Cup 2026 streams, supplying more than 10 Tbps of bandwidt...
04/09/2026
Outstanding achievement in engineering, science and technology
Hitomi Broadcast has been recognised with an Engineering, Science & Technology Emmy from the Ac...
04/09/2026
California, Hollywood at a Crossroads
Andy Marken September 3, 2026
0 Comments
I'm doing everything alone. Crossing roads alone. Seeing the Eiffe...
04/09/2026
Berklee Announces Winners of 2026 SongwritersdB Songwriting Contest Students Luca Alexandru, Annika Wild, and Johanna James received the top prizes for origin...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
04/09/2026
RT ANNOUNCE NEW DRAMA THE MURDER OF MR. MOONLIGHT
BASED ON THE DISAPPEARANCE...
03/09/2026
Yospace will be at IBC from 11th - 14th September (booth 5.C78). For more inform...
03/09/2026
NEP Group has announced leadership changes at Creative Technology Group. Founder and CEO Graham Andrews will step away from day-to-day leadership at the end of ...
03/09/2026
The NFL and TikTok have announced a multi-year partnership renewal expanding the league's presence on the platform. NFL posts on TikTok increased more than ...
03/09/2026
Grass Valley has appointed Ronny Van Geel as Vice President, Cameras. Van Geel began his career in 1999 at Philips DVS and moved into product management in 2005...
03/09/2026
Telestream has announced Vantage Super Resolution, an AI-powered upscaling capability for the Vantage media workflow platform, developed in collaboration with N...
03/09/2026
Solid State Logic (SSL) will debut the TCA Tour at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand 8.B45), a portable production system built from System T components in a desktop frame...
03/09/2026
DPA Microphones has announced the 6388 CORE Headset Microphone, making its debut at IBC2026 (Hall 8, Stand D60). The supercardioid headset features a physicall...
03/09/2026
Qvest will present a multi-vendor Dynamic Media Facility (DMF) showcase at IBC2026 (Booth 10.C24), demonstrating how the EBU's DMF architecture can be imple...
03/09/2026
Imagine Communications will showcase the Magellan PanelFlex control surface and other control portfolio updates at IBC2026 (Stand 1.B73, RAI Amsterdam, Septembe...
03/09/2026
Bridge Technologies will announce at IBC2026 (Booth 1.A71) that its VB440 production probe is now available as a software-based solution, deployable on commerci...