Pennsylvania Expanded Animation Alliance
The Pennsylvania Expanded Animation Alliance (PA XAA) is an educational non-profit corporation dedicated to cultivating a proactive, resilient, and mutually supportive animation ecosystem in our region. We champion workforce development rooted in interdisciplinary collaboration; Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STEAM) education; as well as expanded animation practices that go beyond conventional screen-based formats to explore immersive, performative, and pragmatic experiences across diverse aspects of life.
As part of a broader creative movement across Pennsylvania, PA XAA positions the state as a welcoming environment to connect, experiment, and together take the risks that will sustain our creative communities. We offer a civic and community hub for open conversation and artistic expression, amplifying the region’s strengths as an affordable, idea-rich landscape—supporting innovation that redefines creativity, fuels entrepreneurial growth, and embraces evolving possibilities of animation in cultural, educational, and economic domains.
We envision the region as a national hub for forward-thinking animation – where artists, technologists, educators, and entrepreneurs come together to explore new forms of storytelling, interactivity, and research-driven creative practice. Inspired by the principles of expanded animation, we foster both dialogue and work that combines traditional techniques with emerging technologies to redefine the medium and its possibilities.
PAXAA Team
Timothy Jones
Dr. Timothy Jones is Associate Professor and Director of the Academic Media Center at Robert Morris University. His research interests include animation production culture, serious games, and virtual reality, as well as the relationship between media education and sustainable professional communities. His case studies include Indian animation, visual effects outsourcing, and most recently, accessible self-directed learning environments.
His work appears in Animation: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Animation and Advertising, Animation Practice, Process & Production, Animation Studies Journal, Reconceptualising Film Policies, The South Asianist, and Animation Studies 2.0. India Animated: Essays on Contemporary Practice co-edited with Anitha Balachandran is forthcoming from Palgrave.
Tim is treasurer of the Society for Animation Studies, and Vice President of the PA Expanded Animation Alliance. He also co-hosts the Spirited Animation podcast with Pastor Erin Jones.
Andrew Y. Ames
Andrew Y. Ames is Professor of Media Arts and Gallery Coordinator at Robert Morris University. His creative practice focuses on interactive sculpture, serious games and the intersection of craft and technology. His work bends the rules of play and interaction in unexpected ways to invite critical reflection on social media, warfare, and what it means to win, lose and collaborate.
His serious games have been exhibited in “Artists Who Teach” at the Westmoreland Museum, “Learn to Play” at the Euphrat Museum of Art, and featured in “Just Play” at the Beard Arts Center. His QWERTY sculptures have been exhibited in “Connected” at the Art League of Rhode Island, “GUI/GOOEY” at Plexus Projects and “Being Seen” at TAG/ The Artists Gallery.
Andrew is the treasurer of PA Expanded Animation Alliance. He has also curated exhibitions for Associated Artists of Pittsburgh, Boston Cyberarts Festival and the Sewickley Arts Initiative.
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