Sarah Galasso

Sarah began her career in 2000, as the first-ever, full-time animator at Fisher-Price, Inc. Within her first few months at the company she received the Champion Performer Award from the President of Fisher-Price for her development of innovative techniques that helped to advance the design processes and workflow used at the company. After six years with the company, she launched her own animation studio, August Productions, where she has produced animations for clients such as Mattel, Hasbro, Spin Master Toys, and the Home Shopping Network. Sarah has also earned three Telly Awards as well as the 2014 Award of Excellence from the Videographer Awards, for her role as Executive Animator on the nationally-aired ABC-TV documentary, Building a Basilica. Sarah has 12 years of full-time teaching experience and 20 years of professional experience in all aspects of animation production.

Awards

• Award of Excellence, for role as Executive Animator on the ABC-TV documentary, Building a Basilica. Presented by the Videographer Awards.
• LAFF Guest Lecturer Appreciation Award
• First Annual Outstanding Faculty of the Year Award, presented by Villa Maria College in 2014.
• Telly Awards for View-Master Showtime Projector (2003), Pixter Color (2003), and Kasey Walmart Learning (2000).
• Fisher-Price, Champion Performer Award. Presidential award for outstanding development of innovative techniques that helped to advance the design processes and workflow used at the company.

Publications

• 2018 Keynote Speaker and Workshop Leader at the Longwood Animation and Film Festival, at Longwood University in Farmville, Virginia. Two presentations were given: Creating a Strong Online Presence and How to Stand Out [When Applying for Jobs in Animation]. I also conducted a hands-on workshop on the subject of Animation Techniques in Adobe Photoshop.
• 2017 Guest Speaker at the Symposium for Contemporary Animation Studies, at the Buffalo Arts Studio.
• 2016-17 Member of Assessment Committee at Villa Maria College. Worked with chairperson to write Faculty Handbook: Assessing Student Learning. We also created a power point presention on Assessment Tips and Techniques that we presented in the 2017 Professional Development meetings.
• 2014 Animation Director for Building a Basilica. Lead a team of faculty members and students to create a 3D-animated visualization of the construction of the Our Lady of Victory Basilica, in Lackawanna, New York.
• 2003 Keynote Speaker at the 3December event at the Rochester Institute of Technology.