In case you didn’t know, October 28 is International Animation Day, and the National Film Board is celebrating all week with Get Animated, a series of free screenings and workshops across the country. There are 13 locations coast to coast offering programs, and for everyone else there’s a set of films available for viewing online.

The NFB is, in my opinion, one of the most successful government-supported cultural institutions in this country, consistently producing an extraordinary breadth and depth of artistic work, and it’s also recently become one of the most innovative, finding new ways to send that work back out to its supporters — i.e., every Canadian citizen — in a wide variety of ways, including, as of this week, the iPhone. This kind of free programming is part of that mission, and I think it’s important to acknowledge the high calibre of work that the NFB does. Maybe see you at a screening this week.