Last July, I led a panel with Nicholas Fortugno (Co-Founder & CCO, Playmatics LLC) and Ashlyn Sparrow (Assistant Director, Weston Game Lab, The University of Chicago) to explore how our two cities – NYC and Chicago – were connecting public school teens with colleges based on their interest in games.
The video was just released, and I am proud of this event, not only because it was at the 19th Games For Change Festival (which I co-founded) but as it was a sort of coming-out occasion within the NYC gaming industry for our ambitious new project: The Gaming Pathways.
Unfortunately, the video does not show the slides. So if you’d like to click through your own copy, download this pdf and you can play along at home!
Finally, to provide full context, this is the language used to promote the event: In May 2022, the City University of New York (CCNY) announced a new public pathway to gaming careers to meet the workforce needs of the growing video gaming and related industries in New York City. This presentation explores this new pathway in three ways. First, we will explore highlights from the 2021 study undertaken with area high school-aged youth to inform the development of this project. It will highlight key lessons learned about youth and games while sharing techniques developed to surface examples of youth agency within gaming ecosystems. Second, we will explore what is means to create a new public option offering a bachelor’s degree for youth who want to pursue careers in these industries but lack the means to attend the more expensive private universities offering similar degree programs. Finally, the last third of this symposium will introduce the Weston Game Lab at the University of Chicago and representatives from both programs will explore how both public and private universities can work with local communities to prepare Black and brown youth for a game-oriented career trajectory. The Pathway is a new partnership between New York City’s MoME (Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment) and a team led by CCNY consisting of SAENY (Science and Arts Engagement New York) and UAP (Urban Arts).
