About Us
CAN DO ACADEMY was founded by Joel & Jenny Simon who live in Belfast and have 3 children.
It's through their experience of observing the predominance of gaming and social media apps in their children's leisure time that the idea of Can Do Academy was born . . .
They realised that their children's formal education didn't provide enough opportunities to discover the wonders of creative apps on their various devices. Once their children discovered that there's a whole world out there beyond Minecraft, Fortnite and Insta, their creative and ICT skills benefited tremendously.
This gave them an idea . . .
What if many children simply didn't know enough about the amazing creative apps that are available to them on mobile platforms such as smartphones and tablets?
This idea became a mission . . .
TO CREATIVELY STRETCH THE MINDS OF YOUNG PEOPLE, TO HELP THEM DEVELOP EARLY ICT SKILLS AND GET THE BRAIN WORKING!
Meet The CEO's
Joel Simon is a practising animator, current director of Hola Lola Animations and previously the founder of Flickerpix Animations.
He has over twenty years experience working in the animation industry and has worked with clients including CBBC, Comic Relief, Sesame Street and Channel 4. He has won over 50 international awards for his animation work and directed the BBC's ON THE AIR with Gerry Anderson.
Joel has delivered animation and storyboarding workshops for years, working with Cinemagic, Nerve Belfast, NVTV and a range of Art centres across Northern Ireland.
Joel enjoys sharing his enthusiasm for animation with kids and seeing them develop new skills.
Jenny Simon is an experienced Art and Moving Image Arts teacher who has worked on a broad range of projects within the Education and Community Arts sectors. Jenny began exploring animation nearly two decades ago during her first teaching job as a way of engaging teenage boys who were loosing interest in Art.
Jenny says ‘I enjoy working out how to engage and encourage participants, how to find the right style of animation for them and working to enable them to communicate an idea or express a feeling’.
If you would like to hear more about our workshops or events you can get in touch with us here:
