Los Angeles animators are getting squeezed from every direction right now — layoffs, production moving overseas, and the creeping presence of generative AI in the pipeline. Into that squeeze has stepped a scrappy nonprofit throwing nostalgia-soaked cartoon parties, and on August 8 it packed the Alex Theatre in Glendale with 1,400 people celebrating Betty Boop's 96th birthday.
The event, organized by Saturday Morning Cartoons United, featured restored Betty Boop cartoons, performances by the Bob Baker Marionette Theater and the band Dressy Bessy, and Kate Micucci serving as master of ceremonies, according to the Los Angeles Times. Sandy Fox, who voiced Betty Boop from 1991 to 2022, was also part of the celebration, and Jane Fleischer Reid — granddaughter of Betty Boop co-creator Max Fleischer and creator of Fabulous Fleischer Cartoons Restored — told the paper that animation is art and is needed urgently.
Saturday Morning Cartoons United is a local nonprofit built around a simple pitch: use beloved cartoons to celebrate the art form while funneling money to animation workers who are struggling. The group was co-founded by Eric Bauza, the Daytime Emmy-winning voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Woody Woodpecker, alongside branding strategist Caro Buermann, who has said cartoons and characters can emotionally resonate through generations, as reported by Animation Scoop.
A Crisis That Started With Fire
The nonprofit's origins trace back to the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires, which destroyed more than 16,000 structures across Los Angeles County, burned tens of thousands of acres, and displaced over 190,000 residents, according to CAL FIRE data. Dozens of animators were among those displaced, per the Los Angeles Times report. What began as an emergency relief response has since expanded into a longer-term mission supporting animation workers even as the immediate disaster recedes.
The financial pressure on L.A. animators hasn't let up since. Industry figures compiled in August 2026 show that roughly one-third of Animation Guild members were laid off within a single year, while California saw an overall 30% reduction in film, television, and sound recording jobs, according to data reported by Vidico. Nationwide, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections analyzed in 2026 indicate that employment for special effects artists and animators is expected to grow just 2% through 2034 — roughly 900 net new jobs over an entire decade.
Studios Chase Cheaper Production Overseas
Animation work has been moving overseas for years, and the Los Angeles Times notes that job cuts and the growing threat of AI have made the situation especially acute in Los Angeles. Major studios have expanded production hubs like Disney's Vancouver studio, which handled feature work on titles including Moana 2 alongside its Los Angeles facilities, as tax incentives in cities like Vancouver and Montreal draw production away from Southern California, according to Screen Daily.
Labor tensions over AI came to a head in December 2024, when rank-and-file members of the Animation Guild (IATSE Local 839) protested that a tentative master agreement with major studios lacked minimum staffing guarantees and adequate protections against generative AI job displacement, the Los Angeles Times reported at the time. Animators now face pressure from both studio budget cuts and the adoption of generative AI tools across production pipelines.
Turning Nostalgia Into Relief Funds
Saturday Morning Cartoons United raises money through screenings, pop-ups and panels, offering photo opportunities, merchandise and higher-priced meet-and-greets, and it donates every dollar netted from events after expenses to the charities it supports, per the Los Angeles Times. The group licenses the cartoons and shorts it shows and supports both AnimAID and Legends Animated. It has curated events around Care Bears, FernGully and The Pink Panther, and it has also tried to organize a Muppet Babies event — a show whose opening famously nods to Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark.
AnimAID launched in April 2025 when ASIFA-Hollywood partnered with Sotheby's to auction rare animation art donated by studios including Disney, Warner Bros., Pixar, and Sony, raising emergency funds for more than 70 wildfire-affected animation families, according to Animation Scoop. AnimAID works with the Entertainment Community Fund to distribute direct financial assistance to displaced workers. Meanwhile Legends Animated organizes the annual global 24 Hours Animation Contest for Students, a 24-hour competition bringing together high school and college animation students internationally, extending the nonprofit's reach beyond immediate disaster relief into the pipeline of upcoming student animators, as detailed by Cartoon Brew.
The group also distributes grants for emerging artists through the Silver Lake Shorts Fellowship, which provides up to $5,000 in direct grants alongside creative mentorship to emerging animated and live-action short filmmakers based in Los Angeles, according to No Film School. Saturday Morning Cartoons United partners with the Birthday Party Project, which helps families experiencing homelessness provide birthday parties for their children, and Miss Mae Marlowe told the Los Angeles Times that animation needs community for artists, voice actors and performers.
From a Care Bears Screening to a Growing Slate
The nonprofit soft-launched in October 2025 at Santa Monica's Aero Theatre with a 40th-anniversary charity screening of The Care Bears Movie, featuring behind-the-scenes panels and merchandise sales benefiting AnimAID and Legends Animated, per Cartoon Brew's account of the event. A December 2025 Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special screening raised almost $50,000, the Los Angeles Times reported, underscoring how quickly the model has scaled. Saturday Morning Cartoons United currently has just one full-time staffer running the operation.
The nonprofit isn't slowing down. It plans to screen The Real Ghostbusters cartoon at Dynasty Typewriter on October 3, hold a Hey Arnold! reunion at the Los Feliz 3 on October 17, and stage a large-scale Powerpuff Girls tribute at the Alex Theatre on November 7 — part of a slate of at least three more events planned for 2026, according to the Los Angeles Times. The lineage of the cartoons the group celebrates runs deep: Looney Tunes inspired The Flintstones, which in turn inspired The Simpsons, which inspired Rick and Morty — a chain of influence the nonprofit leans into as it tries to convince fans that supporting animation's past means supporting its future too.
Whether nostalgia fundraisers and grassroots grants can offset the structural forces reshaping the industry remains an open question. Whether future Animation Guild contract enforcement or changes to tax incentive policy can stabilize Southern California's animation job market long-term is not resolved, according to reporting from the Los Angeles Times and Screen Daily. For now, groups like Saturday Morning Cartoons United are betting that community and cartoons can carry displaced artists through the gap.
