Impact Report: Why We Teach Video Game Design 2025
WHY GAME DESIGN?
At Urban Arts, students don’t just play games—they create them. As the nation’s premier nonprofit teaching video game design, we prepare young people for college and career by blending coding, 3D modeling, animation, and storytelling with the essential workforce skills of collaboration, leadership, and design-thinking. Students learn to build original games from the ground up, pitch their ideas, and develop portfolios that colleges and employers notice.
Game design fuels creativity while building critical problem-solving and technical expertise for a $300B industry and beyond. The results speak for themselves: Urban Arts students have earned over $46M in scholarships and launched careers at Lucasfilm, Unity, Amazon, Salesforce, and more. With Urban Arts, creativity isn’t just encouraged—it’s the pathway to the future.
Impact Report: College Access 2025
Here! And below ⬇️
Joelle Blackstock Named 40 Under 40 to Watch
Urban Arts is celebrating our Director of Post-secondary Success Joelle Blackstock being included in Crain’s New York Business 40 Under 40. Per Crain’s: “New York is a city powered by ambition, and this year’s 40 Under 40 honorees are a driving force behind its momentum. These rising stars are tackling some of the city’s most […]
Philip Courtney, CEO, Named Notable Leader in Philanthropy 2025
Philip Courtney Named a Notable Leader in Philanthropy in New York City
Urban Arts CEO Recognized for Visionary Leadership and Transformative Impact on Local Students
New York, NY — June 2025 — Urban Arts proudly announces that its Chief Executive Officer, Philip Courtney, has been named a Notable Leader in Philanthropy by Crain’s New York Business, a prestigious recognition honoring individuals who are driving meaningful change and championing social good across New York City.
Under Philip’s leadership, Urban Arts has emerged as a powerful force for equity and opportunity, particularly among underserved communities. Since stepping into the role in 2003, Philip has overseen explosive growth, producing profound mobility and personal success for students, including:
• Winning a 3rd highly competitive $4M Education Innovation & Research (EIR) grant from the U.S. DoE (totaling $12M),
• Stewarding the #CreativeCoders partnership with Minecraft Education serving middle schools nationwide,
• Gaining the @collegeboard endorsement of Urban Arts’ #STEAM curriculum that’s shared freely with all Title 1 schools,
• Crafting a college access program that has 100% of seniors matriculating to college, earning $46M in scholarships,
• Challenging the organization to a new goal—$100M in scholarships by 2030.
CEO Philip Courtney X Spark ⚡️ Talk
Urban Arts CEO Philip Courtney delivered the energized Spark Talk “Video Gaming: An Equitable On-Ramp to Workforce Development” at the Infosys Foundation conference in Indianapolis May 8, 2025—and coined the phrase “digital DaVincis.”
How many times would you have raised your hand?
Read the speech below to catch the spark.
Let’s play a game…..
COLLEGE ACCESS 2025 A New Generation of Game-Changers Takes the Next Step
Urban Arts is thrilled to celebrate our seniors as they commit to colleges across the country, armed with scholarships and dreams that are no longer just possibilities, but realities. These students — predominantly from low-income communities and first-generation applicants—are not just getting in. They’re thriving, rewriting the narrative of who belongs in the world of higher education, technology and game design. Urban Arts students have earned $45+ millions in scholarships since 2017.
Well. That was epic.
At Urban Arts’ Color Ball on April 10th, five extraordinary young people took the stage—and owned it.
Urban Arts to Honor Josh Feldman with NBCUniversal at 2025 Color Ball
Dear Life of the Party,
At Urban Arts’ Color Ball on April 10th, five extraordinary young people took the stage—and owned it. Their powerful stories and remarkable achievements received a rousing response from a room filled with 400 guests. It was a night that celebrated not only their success, but the limitless potential of every Urban Arts student.
Because of you—our incredible supporters, champions, and dance-floor legends—Color Ball 2025 raised $800k in a single night! That’s right, you made it rain (philanthropically speaking), and our Urban Arts students are the real winners! Daniel Glenn-Schultz, our inspiring Nagler Scholar, deserves a standing ovation. His story reminds us why we do this work—because talent deserves opportunity, and every student deserves a chance to create their future.
“Imagine a little boy standing at Parkchester Subway station. I’m staring at a vast subway map. I’m following the multi-colored lines. As I stare at that map, I feel I can go anywhere! Urban Arts has changed my life. And now this scholarship will change my life yet again.”
—Daniel Glenn-Schultz, 2025 Nagler Scholar
A huge thank you to our honoree, NBCUniversal’s Josh Feldman, for his leadership and to NBCUniversal for your unwavering partnership. We couldn’t ask for better collaborators in this mission to fuel access and opportunity.
And let’s talk about Louis Cato and his band, who absolutely rocked the house (and may or may not have caused some sore feet this morning). Louis brought the perfect energy to cap off an unforgettable evening!To each and every one of you in the room and who raised your hand or bid wildly on auction items—THANK YOU! Your generosity ensures that Urban Arts students can dream big, create freely, and achieve their full potential.Missed the event but still want to make an impact? There’s still time to support our students and get involved! With deep gratitude, we’re heading into the future energized and inspired. Thank you for being part of this unforgettable night and the Urban Arts journey.
Highlights from the night:
• 100% college acceptance rate,
• $32M in college scholarships to date,
• $800K raised,
• 3 conga lines on the dance floor,
• a sea of sequins, blinding amounts of neon, plus stripes, florals, checks, comic-book print, marabou cuffs, animal prints, plaids, metallics, rhinestones, paisley—
• and one red cape!
There’s No Computer Science Without Creativity: Game Development as a Pathway to STEM Success
Dr. Amy Patterson of Urban Arts and Ellen Flaherty of Unity amplify the transformative impact of Computer Science (CS) through game development in a CSEdWeek OpEd (December 9-13, 2024). This piece spotlights how game design initiatives are changing the trajectory for K-12 students nationwide. Together, they showcase real student journeys—from high school to college to […]
Bold, Creative, Inspiring: The 2024 Urban Arts Yearbook is Live Now
Are you ready to discover how creativity is shaping new futures and opening doors for middle and high school students in the 2024 Urban Arts Yearbook? Through hands-on learning, mentorship and college access, we’re empowering students to build skills and confidence for futures in STEM STEAM. Your support is helping turn dreams into reality—one game at a time!