Set up as a festival and conference, The Art Department focusses and celebrates the art and design process for film, animation and games. We dive into the creative process and put a spotlight on artists that are responsible for the creation of world, characters and stories!
Launched in 2017, the fest has welcomed many industry greats such as character designers James Baxter (The Lion King), Crash McCreery (Pirates of the Caribbean), Carter Goodridge (Despicable Me), Loish (Horizon Zero Dawn), Peter De Sève (Ice Age), Angela Sung (Bad Guys), Aaron Blaise (Brother Bear), Borja Montoro (Moana), but also amazing concept artists, VR heroes and world builders like Jama Jurabaev (Ready Player One), FX Goby (Back to the Moon) and Santa Monica Studios (God of War) on our stage.
Year by year the event is steadily growing and we’re currently happy to welcome around 5.000 filmmakers, concept artists and other creatives in Eindhoven in our impressive industrial venue Klokgebouw.
In 2019 we expanded our adventures to the amazing city of Berlin, in Germany. First hosted in Vollgutlager, and currently in Alte Münze, our events engage around 1.500 creatives per edition.
Testament to the value The Art Department brings to international creative communities, were the two online editions, including a 24h streaming marathon, organised in 2020. Ca. 60.000 (!) unique viewers joined us for talks, demos, panels, portfolio reviews, paint-overs and a slow tv sketching channel. Each year the events got bigger, more ambitious, with more guests, talks and networking opportunities. And yes, completely sold-out, with more than 6.500 people joining us!
We have many surprises prepared for next year. Think: internationally acclaimed artists, panels, sketching sessions, recruitment and portfolio reviews, pitching sessions, exhibitions, art market, artist studios, film programs and many many more. Curious about the 2025 editions? Keep an eye on this page for current updates!
Cannot wait? Re-watch talks on our platform Replay!
Over the years Playgrounds has collected amazing presentations during our festivals. These rich archives are now gathered in one place.
You can re-watch talks, demos and panels for free. All you have to do is register. What are you waiting for? Let’s go ➡️ Replay
