On Tuesday, state senator Anthony Portantino (D – La Cañada Flintridge)

announced that he helped secure $2.5 million in the 2022-23 California state

budget to kickstart an effort to develop a virtual and physical animation museum.

There’s still a long way to go before the project can become a reality.

More fundraising will follow, along with outreach to studios and groups including the

International Animated Film Society (ASIFA-Hollywood), the non-profit that

produces the Annie Awards for animation — which separately had been

developing its own plans for a museum to celebrate its art form.

One initial idea is to potentially find a space in the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena area,

which has long been a center for animation. Burbank has been the home of Walt Disney Animation Studios since 1940,