CGAcademy: Shaping the Industry with Education
CGAcademy provides educational content to help students and entry-level artists work their way up in the VFX, gaming, animation, and CG industry. With CGAcademy sessions, you won’t wander off the right learning path.
With CGAcademy, we support the new generation of digital artists through the development of software and other relevant skills. The program targets young creators working in the fields of visual effects, game art, animation, interactive media, digital design, and other related fields. As one of the founders of the CGA Conference, we launched CGAcademy on the parent platform.
The realization of the CGAcademy for us was a logical step, as we have been committed to strengthening the CG ecosystem for many years, either through the popularization of deficient occupations, or by designing study programs, and free training for university teachers, professors, and associates. We are committed to strengthening the talent base in Serbia, and CGAcademy is one way to succeed in this mission.
In addition to individual sessions, the CGAcademy team also organizes all-day events such as Emerging Talents (May 2021) and Talent Sandbox (April 2022) conferences, as well as an educational streamline within CGA Belgrade: Embracing Metaversity (November 2021) conference.
To keep up to date with CGAcademy content, we recommend that you follow Crater’s YouTube channel.You should also know that the CGA’s official channel hides a variety of related sessions held both online and live in front of a large audience.
Editor’s Choice
Watch the CGAcademy Sessions in Full
The CGAcademy sessions were initially divided into three series, and over time we organized several “stand-alone” episodes. Creative Software Sessions are practical tutorials on industry-leading tools such as Unreal Engine, Autodesk Maya, Zbrush, etc. Know-How Sessions are focused on soft skills that help young people better understand the professional environment and collaborate with others. Finally,there is the Career Paths series, in which we “reveal the secrets” of career paths in the creative industries and explain what positions exist in the market.
CGAcademy Team
Miljana Jovović
Director
After years of working in architecture, Miljana turned to the VFX industry. As an executive producer, she led Crater Studio through many major projects. About a decade ago, she made yet another career jump, this time towards non-formal education in the field of creative industries.
Together with her team, she mapped Crater Training Center as a unique place where future and existing professionals gather on courses, events, mentoring, and internship programs. Over time, Crater has become the place-to-be for artists of all kinds, eager to hone their skills, gain knowledge, and network.
Along with partners from the Serbian Film Association and VFX Serbia, she founded CGA Belgrade, the first international conference dedicated to computer graphics in the region.
Marija Rakić-Lovrić
Education & Events Specialist
Marija is an ethnomusicologist with vast experience in teaching juniors and high schoolers, as well as in international schools.
She has organized and launched numerous workshops and festivals for children related to music, art, culture, and education (GroArt Fest, Culture for Beginners, European Heritage Days), as well as the Music Archeology in Serbia project. She is a member of the Serbian Ethnomusicological Society and an associate of the Jeunesses Musicales Belgrade.
At Crater Training Center, she coordinates classes, organizes events, and actively cooperates with educational institutions to improve teaching in the field of multimedia technologies and computer graphics.
Bojana Simić
Program Specialist and Industry Relationship Representative
As a specialist in adult education, Bojana acts as a program coordinator at our school. She is the first in line with our industry partners and works closely with their HR teams.
As part of the CGAcademy, she launched Portfolio Review sessions in which artists from leading creative studios review the participants’ portfolios while providing expert advice.
So far, she has coordinated projects in the entertainment industry and education (including Summer of Unreal and Train the Trainers, to name a few).
CGAcademy Partners
As a link between industry and academic institutions, Crater Training Center collaborates with industry leaders such as 3Lateral (Epic Games), Nordeus, Mad Head Games, Ubisoft, Playstudios Europe, and other creative studios. The realization of the CGAcademy program is also supported by local universities with curriculum aimed at creative industries. Most of our partners play significant roles in our sessions.
CGAcademy Testimonials
My experience with CGAcademy is great. This was my first public lecture, and the team that organized the event was there to provide full support and make sure everything went smoothly.I am glad that we are talking more and more about computer graphics, games, and movie industry. It makes me happy to see many more people, both individually and on a team-level, are able to deliver world-class work. Thanks to CGAcademy, students and other artists willing to enter the world of computer graphics are provided with free lectures. The fact that I was able to share my knowledge and present a role of a 3D Animator meant a lot, and I hope that my lesson inspired at least one person to try it out.
Nataša Vučićević, 3D Animator @ Mad Head Games
Conferences are one of the best ways to learn something and get to know someone new. Unfortunately, not everyone has the opportunity to travel and attend major world events. That is why CGA is very important and invaluable for the local community. Every time I am pleasantly surprised by the caliber of the lectures, and an additional pleasure is the excellent mix of world experts and local stars. A bonus fact to the quality and professionalism of the CGA conference is its constant growth and even greater ambitions.
Nikola Damjanov, Lead Game Artist @ Nordeus