AICE, the international trade association for the independent creative editorial and post production industry, has updated its membership eligibility requirements to now include design, motion graphics and visual effects companies.
The change was jointly announced by Tom Duff, President of Optimus in Chicago and President of the International Board of AICE, and by Burke Moody, AICE's Executive Director.
Eligible for membership will be motion graphics, design and visual effects companies, and the artists who work for them.
These include independent firms as well as those related to or affiliated with existing post companies.
The shift is a reflection of the fact that AICE member companies have for some time been aggressively expanding the technology, services and talent they have to offer to the marketplace.
The membership expansion gives a voice to the design, motion graphics and visual effects companies that now comprise a large part of the post production world.
"An association is the people," says Duff, who is also President of the AICE Chicago Chapter.
"Editors have always been storytellers.
When a designer creates a spot that is all animation or effects, they're editors and storytellers, too.
Opening the membership to these companies will give the organization more perspective.
We'll be better able to provide a more holistic set of programs and services to our members, and to the industry at large."