Impact Report: ALUMNI 2026. We hire our most powerful advocates.
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.
The 2025 Yearbook is Here!
Get impressed! Packed with innovative programming, stories of impact, and intrepid youth.
Urban Arts Investigates AI and the Future of STEAM Education at Accelerator 2025
Redefining Learning in the Age of Automation NEW YORK, NY (October 2025) — While the headlines wonder if AI will replace skills like coding, Urban Arts knows what makes students irreplaceable: creativity and critical thinking. The national nonprofit—renowned for teaching video game design as a pathway to college and career—hosted their AI Accelerator from September […]
“The Vanishing Enigma” Honored in Congressional App Challenge
NEW YORK, NY (2025) — Urban Arts, a New York City-based nonprofit that teaches digital game design as a pathway to college and wide-ranging careers, is proud to announce that The Vanishing Enigma created by Studio Capstone team “The AristoRats” has won the 2024 Congressional App Challenge for New York’s Eighth District, hosted by Representative […]
Urban Arts to Honor Josh Feldman with NBCUniversal at 2025 Color Ball
Urban Arts, the premier national nonprofit harnessing the power of digital game design as a pathway to college and career, will honor Josh Feldman, Chief Marketing Officer, Advertising & Partnerships, of NBCUniversal, at its inspiring, high energy Color Ball gala. The event, set to take place on April 10 in New York City, will celebrate […]
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 […]
(FREE) SUMMER CAMP ⛺️: Hot Games, Cool Kids
During the 6 weeks of our Summer Camp intensive, 100+ students learned coding, Unity engine, and other digital tools to write, make music and art, and create games. 10 Alumni Teaching Assistants worked with us this summer—folks who went through Urban Arts programming and who have been hired back to teach the next generation while […]
ARCADE 2024 🙌🏾 SMASH SUCCESS
New York, NY, June 15—Totally new games to play, dedicated gamers in supportive community, plus industry pros leaning *IN*—#ARCADE 2024 marks another smash success. Over 100 students jammed the Urban Arts Learning Lab to 🍕🍪🍿, to play, to celebrate their work, and to cheer the Studio Teams on as they pitched their year-long efforts to […]
2024 BATTLE OF THE BOROUGHS 🏆
Brooklyn, NY—Urban Arts remains thrilled to be involved with Battle of the Boroughs (BOTB)—an exciting K-12 #scholastic #esports competition from NYC Public Schools, Minecraft Education, and C40’s Reinventing Cities aimed at empowering young New Yorkers to shape their city’s future. BOTB is a three-round elimination-style event where student teams design inclusive, future-ready city spaces. Mayor’s […]
Urban Arts & The College Board: A STEM STEAM Partnership
Game On, an innovative custom curriculum from Urban Arts to teach Advanced Placement Computer Science Principles (AP CSP) through Game Design, has recently been endorsed by the College Board. As the only endorsed curriculum powered by Unity’s world-leading platform of tools, Game On teaches computer science through the art and technology of game development, informing […]