Cocktails & Bytes with Urban Arts | September 21

You’re Invited! On September 21st, we will be hosting an event at Paramount’s Lodge space in NYC. Join us for a drink and lite bytes (bytes! get it?). We’ll have alumni speakers, videos and artwork displayed around the room, stations to try student games, and much more. This is a great way to stay up to date on everything Urban Arts. Attendance is FREE. You can RSVP here. See you there!

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2023 Games For Change Festival

Great time at the 2023 Games for Change Festival! Urban Arts’ CEO Philip Courtney along with an incredible team hosted the panel REIMAGINING GAME INDUSTRY EDUCATION: BOOSTING TALENT PIPELINE & CAREER OPPORTUNITIES.

The panel touched on how higher education, government, non-profits and platforms are coming together to design the skills, competencies and certifications that will set up the next generation of developers to succeed.

Josh Reynolds  (Director, Modern Workplace, US Education, Microsoft)
Thomas Winkley  (Technical Marketing Advocate, Unity)
Gordon Bellamy  (Professor, University of Southern California)
Alia Jones-Harvey  (Associate Commissioner, NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment)

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ROKU Visit—We’re all the way UP!

A major thank you to Roku for a great field trip to their NYC HQ on the 34th Floor. Urban Arts students gained access & exposure to the world of work, hearing from Roku employees and getting a tour of their amazing space in Times Square. We can’t wait to go back!

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CCNY College Tour

Students spent the day inventing and playtesting their own playground or ‘street’ games as part of a master class on game design from industry leader and CCNY professor, Nicholas Fortugno. Followed by a tour of the campus and info session about the new public game design degree available at CCNY through the Gaming Pathways initiative.

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Missouri, Get Your Game On!

Amy Patterson, PhD recently presented at Missouri University of Science and Technology‘s STEM Conference, where she spoke on Urban Arts’ exciting Computer Science through Game Design programs and new opportunities for rural schools.

With Missouri now requiring CS classes for all high schools this year (kudos to Cindy Shannon for an informative keynote!), it’s a great time for educators to consider ways to teach CS through Game Design. Check it out here.

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