Kavaleer Animations, the award winning Irish animation production company who have just celebrated their 10 year anniversary have announced that in order to keep up with their international work load, they will create 30 new animation jobs over the course of 2012.

Kavaleer’s award winning animation is internationally respected, and has allowed them to work with notable names such as Sesame Street, Houghton Mifflin, Harcourt and Disney.

In addition to a co-production of 50 x 11 minute pre-school series, they intend extending their interactive games and e-learning production to €1 Million turnover by April 2012.  Kavaleer also have big plans for the world of apps and digital games.  Some of their notable work in the interactive field includes the artwork they produced for the game Diner Dash, a Playfirst property.  Diner Dash is played world-wide and available as an app for iPhone, iPad and PC.

CEO and Founder Andrew Kavanagh talked about coming through 10 years of business:

“It’s amazing to think that what started out in 1998 as a hobby has developed into something this big over the past decade. Ten years ago, we got our first commission and took a risk by starting a business in the midst of a recession. I’m so glad we did because now this gets to be my day job. We’re delighted to announce that we will be taking on additional staff in 2012 as we work on exciting international projects.”

Kavaleer is one of Ireland’s leading animation producers, twice nominated for an Irish Film and Television Award, a British Animation Award and winning four Digital Media Awards. Their film work has been selected by over 100 international festivals over the past ten years.

What started out for Kavaleer as a series of shorts has moved onto TV series development,  first co-producing with Belfast’s Straandlooper Productions on their preschool series Lifeboat Luke (39 x 5 minutes)  which was set in and around the small fictional seaside community of Donaghadoo. This was soon followed by their very own pre-school series aired on RTÉ Junior: Garth and Bev, a cartoon about time-travelling siblings who lived long ago in harmony with Nature. The series has been sold to a number of territories including the UK (CBeebies), China, Portugal, America and Australia to name but a few.

Kavaleer’s most recent collaboration was with Dinamo Productions on their new pre-school series entitled Abadas (52 x 11 minute) a multi-layered interactive word and sound association series that has appeal to a broad range of pre-school viewers. Set in the magical world of a pop-up book, pre-schoolers are transported to the playful world of Pop-Up Island.

Kavaleer currently have two more shows in development: a “top secret” major UK children’s series, and an Irish show called BedHeads.

Gary Timpson, MD and Producer of Kavaleer expressed his delight at their success:

“The passion, support and energy shown by the Kavaleer crew over the last ten years has been tremendous. Their dedication helped the company through some tough times and to strive for bigger and better opportunities.”

Chris Arrant

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