KCC Ovations

Rarebit Animation Festival Founder Awarded National Grant
Audience watches the Rarebit Animation Festival. (Frame from “CrossOver City Wise” by Joseph E. Parker)

 

Thomas Eaton.

Rarebit Animation Festival Founder Awarded National Grant

Professor Tom Eaton, a practicing animator and longtime faculty member in Kingsborough Community College’s Department of Art, has been awarded a 2025 Faculty Grant from ASIFA-Hollywood’s Animation Educators Forum (AEF) to support the Rarebit Animation Festival, an annual student animation showcase he founded in 2017.

Eaton was one of 10 recipients selected from a global pool of applicants.

Rarebit, which began as a platform for Kingsborough animation students to present their short films, has evolved from an in-person showcase at Kingsborough’s on-campus art museum to a CUNY-wide celebration that now includes work by CUNY students and alumni of all levels, broader community engagement, and public screenings at neighborhood libraries.

The event is named in tribute to early animation pioneer Winsor McCay, a onetime Sheepshead Bay resident and creator of the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend.

ASIFA-Hollywood is the world’s leading professional organization dedicated to promoting the art of animation. Its AEF Faculty Grants are awarded to support scholarly and creative projects in the animation field.