Author: BGI team

The National Videogame Museum (NVM) is thrilled to unveil a formidable roster of new Trustees joining the Board of its governing charity, The BGI. 

With a dynamic blend of cross-sector expertise, these appointments come at a pivotal moment for the Charity as it accelerates its evolution as a museum and shifts focus towards greater National impact.

Representing experts from the fields of culture, visitor attractions, videogames, fundraising and marketing, the influx of new Trustees will join the Board in two phases and as previous tenures end. These strategic additions will bolster the Museum’s governance, while helping the NVM meet its ambitious goals for the future.

Under the leadership of Co-CEOs Cat Powell and John O’Shea since 2022, the NVM has done significant work consolidating the collection, developing exhibitions and enriching experience for audiences and researchers and, this spring, the Charity is on track to submit for Arts Council England’s National Museum Accreditation. 

As the UK’s only museum dedicated to the history, social and cultural impact of videogames, the NVM is positioned at the forefront of preserving the Nation’s videogame heritage. With a mission statement asserting that videogames are for everyone, the Museum continues to evolve, ensuring gaming culture and its preservation is relevant and accessible to all.

New Trustees Announced:

Beginning in March 2025, the NVM will welcome the first phase of new trustees: 

• David Barrie (founder and CEO of Game Academy) 
• Joe Chetcuti (Creative Director at Creative Assembly)
• Emma Cooper (Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer Manager at Innovate UK)
• Natalie Kane (Curator of Digital Design at The V&A)
• Nick Poole (Chief Executive of UKIE) 

With extensive experience in game development, cultural institutions, brand management and technological innovation, these trustees will play a key role in guiding the Museum as it expands its National profile and strengthens the way in which its mission to highlight videogames culture, interfaces with audiences and the wider sector.

Bringing yet further breadth to the board, the next phase of appointments will follow in November 2025:

• Brian Baglow (Founder of Scottish Games Week)
• John Booth (Senior Director at Sony Interactive Entertainment)
• Emily Britt (Senior Communications Manager at Sharkmob)
• Jess Gaskell (Director of PMO at Sumo Digital)

Their expertise from leading and working with companies in the games industry and sector across the UK and Europe, will ensure the Museum’s continued relevance and its ability to build strategic plans that shape the future of videogame preservation and education.

The new Board of the National Videogame Museum, based in Sheffield, will celebrate the Museum’s presence in the North and enhance the understanding of its communities and their needs, while bringing a National profile to the Charity’s innovative work.

Claire Boissiere, Chair of the Board of Trustees at the NVM, said, “We are honoured to welcome our new Trustees to the Board. Their extensive experience will be invaluable as we embark on an exciting new chapter in the National Videogame Museum’s journey, expanding our national presence and advancing our mission. We are excited to see how their ideas and insights will help shape our future.

We also want to share our heartfelt thanks to the Trustees stepping down at this time. Their dedication, guidance, and leadership have played a huge role in shaping the Museum’s success. Their impact will continue to inspire us, and we are deeply grateful for the time, energy, and passion they have given to the Museum.”

The National Videogame Museum is celebrating five years since its Sheffield launch with a day of celebrations.

Everyone visiting on the fifth anniversary, Friday 24th of November 2023, can book discounted tickets and experience a celebration of the history and culture of videogames, with over 100 interactive exhibits and hands-on creative activities from their award winning Learning Team.

The Museum’s anniversary year has been its busiest to date, welcoming over 50,000 visitors to the Castle House venue (of which 70% are from outside of the city region) and establishing the NVM as a unique Sheffield attraction. The museum exists to collect, preserve, exhibit and interpret videogames for everyone and like many cultural organisations it survived the pandemic through support from the Arts Council England Culture Recovery Fund, plus support from patrons in the videogame industry and a community fundraiser

Under the new joint CEO leadership of Creative Director, John O’Shea, and Director of Visitor Experience, Cat Powell, the last year has seen a refocus on the Museum’s ambition to expand its work with diverse and underrepresented communities; reflect on the relevance of videogames
across society, and advocate for greater access to careers in the videogame industry.

At the half decade mark, the Museum is reflecting on achievements with its community, and looking forward to the future, as a success story for Sheffield.

The Museum is dedicated to transforming lives with videogames: Initiatives during 2023 have ranged from pop up exhibitions around South Yorkshire, to exploring stories of sanctuary-seeking communities through the art of game making; and creating a fair for celebrating careers in videogames.

The NVM is now working towards Museum Accreditation – Arts Council England’s National benchmark for museum standards – a process which sees its expert team cataloguing over 5,000 videogame objects and cultural artefacts. The vital work aims to establish the Museum as the leading organisation for videogame culture – and builds the foundations for researchers, publishers, games developers, and the public to engage with this unique collection in new and exciting ways.

Sir Ian Livingstone, President, BGI Board of Trustees, said, “Videogames are an integral part of the UK’s cultural heritage, and the 5th anniversary of The National Videogame Museum in Sheffield is a significant milestone. Looking to the future, there is great potential to build on this foundation regionally and nationally, to emphasise Sheffield as a contemporary powerhouse for videogame development, and to communicate the full social, cultural, economic and educational impact of the videogames industry through the work of the museum.”

John O’Shea and Cat Powell, Co-CEOs of The National Videogame Museum said, “It’s a privilege to lead the Museum at such an exciting juncture in its development. Digital culture, including videogames, plays such an important role in all of our lives now. As the UK’s only museum dedicated to videogames, we want the museum to continue to grow, and to educate, inspire and engage the widest possible audience over the next five years and beyond.”

Celebrating careers in games, the week will showcase the wide array of diverse opportunities and pathways into the videogames industry.

 

Returning for its third year, Games Careers Week celebrates diverse pathways into a career in games for young people of all backgrounds, through events, media, diverse developers, and online activities.

Organised by The National Videogame Museum, the week brings together organisations, individuals and educational institutions to showcase excellence and celebrate one of the UK’s fastest growing industries, which has a market worth of over £7 billion.

The week will not only encourage and inspire young people’s passion to enter the industry but will also help parents understand the credibility of a career in games (with nearly 21,000 people employed in the games sector in the UK in 2022 – a 25% increase on the previous year.)

For 2023, The NVM, alongside partners Into Games, Grads in Games, NextGen Skills Academy and Women In Games, will deliver activities, events and resources throughout the week while encouraging studios and educational institutions to participate with their own activities in this
week-long national festival.

The NVM will host a “Why do Videogames Matter” symposium on the 21st of June in collaboration with Leeds Trinity University where academics and industry speakers will debate this provocation.

The 22nd and 23rd of June will see a careers fair inviting studios, FE and HE providers to have an exhibition stand at the museum demonstrating alternative pathways into the games industry. Students will be invited from high pupil premium schools, SEND and alternative FE providers to
discover a variety of careers and take part in STEM based workshops (created by their award winning learning team and NextGen Skills Academy).  All of which will be available to them for free with the help of headline sponsors Boneloaf, a Sheffield based indie game studio, and Sheffield Hallam University.

Into Games will organise activities aimed at FE students to help students build confidence in developing their portfolios, and taking the next steps on the games careers ladder. Women In Games run a global Ambassador Programme to build a powerful and diverse community of action, aligned and committed to achieving the vision and mission of Women in Games through meaningful collaboration and initiatives. It will be their ambassadors that will take centre stage to create and participate in activities that will be aimed at young people.

Any organisation, school, university or games studio can participate in Games Careers Week to inspire young people, parents and teachers to discover careers in games. The NVM has provided a resource pack showcasing examples of events that institutions can organise, host or promote. No matter the size of the event, Games Careers Week highlights how a little can go a long way in someone’s life. Studios could host game jams, provide expert talks or studio tours, while educational institutions can take part in online courses or design videogames using Scratch or
Twine.

Events will be added to the Games Careers Week website in the weeks leading up to the 19th June.

Stacey Jubb, Head of Learning at the NVM says: “Games Careers Week is an opportunity for us to celebrate the fantastic range of careers in the games industry. We are excited to be hosting a two day career fair at the NVM which will showcase alternative pathways into the industry, give students opportunities to take part in workshops, speak to industry professionals and experience our interactive museum. If you are wanting to embark on a career in games but not sure how or where to start, our careers fair is the place to be!”

Create and event and get involved with the Games Careers Week’s Event Resource Pack and help shape the future of young lives and the industry.

Sheffield 1400 30/07/2021: The BGI has won a grant from Museums Association funded by UK Research and Innovation and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to work with Biome Collective and under-represented groups in Sheffield to create a game about folklore.

The grant from the Digital Innovation and Engagement Fund was awarded to the charity for the National Videogame Museum’s new project: Playing with Power. The community-led project will work with Biome Collective as artist in residence and a group of 40 local co-producers to explore, document and share their experiences and feelings about identity and representation via a co-created videogame and videogame assets.

Playing with Power will explore what happens when you shine a light on the folktales from under-represented cultures within Sheffield and re-imagine them as a videogame. During the 12-month residency project, a group of local people will collaborate with Biome to co-create a body of work to be shared online. The resulting content will become part of the Museum’s permanent collection and the creative process documented online. The residency will engage audiences interactively throughout, integrating their responses to make this project part of the wider community both during and after its creation.

Veteran developer Malath Abbas from the Biome Collective said: “This is an exciting opportunity for Biome Collective to co-create videogames with diverse people from across Sheffield. We look forward to exploring the creative process behind videogames in accessible and fun interactive workshop sessions. By focusing on unrepresented voices we will unlock great potential and connect audiences to untold stories that will enrich their lives.”

NVM Programme Manager Claire Mead said “Playing with Power aims to harness the collaborative power of videogames using a community-led approach within the NVM. Working with Biome Collective and local Sheffield producers will provide new ways for the museum to support creative co-production within the museum and support local and UK-wide creatives. This project will empower new audiences to use videogames as a way to tell their own stories and have these stories collected and displayed both within the museum gallery and online.” 

The Digital Innovation and Engagement Fund aims to bring diverse, under-represented voices into museums and bring new perspectives and audiences into 14 museums across the UK. Professor Dame Ottoline Leyser, Chief Executive of UKRI, said: “Museums play a vital role in bringing communities together; they help us to understand our  past and imagine a better future. This investment will bring diverse, underrepresented voices into museums to share their  experiences, so that new audiences benefit from our outstanding museums and museums  benefit from different perspectives. Coming together as a society to learn and discover new things is a key part of our cultural lives,  and the recipients of this funding will help to facilitate this in novel and exciting ways.”

Find more information on the Digital Innovation and Engagement fund here.

Continue reading “National Videogame Museum wins UKRI/AHRC grant and announces community-led game making project with Biome Collective”

Ambitious new project supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation

The World Builders project is part of the University’s Maker{Futures} programme, an ambitious scheme driven by the University’s School of Education and the Literacies Research Cluster. MakerFutures aims to promote maker education and develop digital literacies in schools, libraries and museums.

A consortium of Yorkshire schools, The School of Education and MakerFutures Project at The University of Sheffield and The National Videogame Museum have been awarded funding for a two-year action research programme, which will see children taking on the role of videogame designers and artists.

The project will be launched on the 20th July when the six schools will see the world premiere of a new animation created to introduce the key concepts of digital literacies.

Teachers in six Yorkshire schools will undertake professional development working with videogame designers to develop activities for their classes to try out.

The National Videogame Museum in Sheffield, run by the charity the BGI, will share their expertise in games based learning and their connections with local games development companies. Dr Becky Parry, University of Sheffield, said:
‘It’s an important opportunity to work with the National Videogame Museum because they share our own commitment to social justice. We all know there needs to be new voices and ideas in the videogames industry and this project will ensure children develop digital skills and story-telling aspirations to meet the challenges of the future.’

Rebecca Timperly, Headteacher from the lead school for the project, Northfield Junior School, said:
‘We want to ensure our staff, our children and our community are confident in using digital technologies to be creative rather than only consumers of videogames. This is an exciting opportunity to reimagine how we teach technology and the arts together – STEAM!’

Dr Alison Buxton, of the Maker{Futures} programme, said:
‘Our MakerFutures programme advocates the use of ‘maker-mindsets’ so that children gain confidence in bringing ideas to life with digital and physical tools. These skills will be key to future videogames designers but also to many other industry sectors.’

The Paul Hamlyn Foundation states that:
‘The purpose of the Teacher Development Fund is to support delivery of effective arts-based teaching and learning opportunities in the primary classroom, and to embed learning through the arts in the curriculum. It aims to do this through supporting teachers and school leaders to develop the necessary skills, knowledge, confidence and experience.’

Leah Dungay, Learning Officer at the National Videogame Museum, said:
‘The National Videogame Museum has long experience in combining videogames with learning to build valuable STEAM skills for young people and educators. We’re excited to be working with our partners, schools and organisations to work with teachers in the classroom, and build their confidence in engaging with digital technologies, videogames and the arts.’

Continue reading “World Builders: The BGI and National Videogame Museum working with University of Sheffield to develop the game designers of the future.”

June 8th 2021: The organisers of the inaugural Games Careers Week festival – the BGI, Into Games and Grads in Games – announced that 120 games studios, universities, non-profits, schools and grassroots organisations ran or supported 32 online events including conferences, talks and advice sessions.

37,000 parents, learners, teachers and job-seekers attended the online sessions. The festival had over 2.5m engagements on social media and over 50 publications, radio stations and sites with aggregate monthly audiences of over 75m covered the event.

The Games Careers Week festival is a free annual event to inspire people from every background to discover careers in the UK’s fastest growing creative industry – video games. Founded in December 2020 and launched in March 2021, the festival provides careers advice to people from all backgrounds, showcases the many inspirational schemes offered by the games sector year round and highlights key issues of education and diversity.

Games companies, educators and parents are invited to help shape GCW 2022 by attending a town hall event at 4pm on 8th July to:

• Highlight successes from this year’s inaugural event
• Get organisers ready to take part
• Provide more information on how to get involved in 2022
• Help spark ideas for what organisers might do during the week
• Connect organisers to others looking to take part
• Give organisers, educators and parents a say in how it runs

Sign up to the free Town Hall event here.

Continue reading “Games Careers Week Reaches 37,000 people”