The BGI

Watch BGI CEO Rick Gibson and BGI Trustee Marcia Deakin from NextGen Skills Academy at a ScreenSkills masterclass in Leamington Spa. The session on Pathways into the Games industry: Jobs, skills and CVs included Kathleen Brice from Codemasters, Marcia Deakin from NextGen, Chris McCarthy from Third Kind Games and Chris Sayers from Mediatonic.  The panel shared their own career journeys and gave advice and tips on CV’s, approaching employers and what to put in a portfolio.

You can watch other sessions on games careers here.

The charity is hiring 3 new roles

• Creative Director, The NVM [NOW FILLED]
• Vocational Learning Manager, The BGI [NOW FILLED]
• Workshop Facilitator, Next Level Programme [NOW CLOSED]

BGI is hiring an experienced curator with a track record of delivering exhibitions with significant digital components to be its new Creative Director. They will drive the creative vision for the Curatorial, Collections and Learning Programme at the National Videogame Museum as well as other BGI projects and festivals. They will define the Museum’s exhibition programme, complete museum accreditation and report directly to the CEO.

BGI is also seeking an experienced training manager to become our new Vocational Learning Manager. In this exciting new part-time role reporting directly to the CEO you will be responsible for supporting and growing our vocational learning programme, with a focus on the Ufi-funded Next Level programme.

BGI wants to recruit an experienced games (or similar software) developer to facilitate a workshop programme for BAME females and non-binary people in Sheffield. The facilitator will help develop the programme in 2021, then deliver and evaluate a series of 36 workshops through 2022.

Information on how to apply and application deadlines for all three roles is available here.

Working at the BGI

We’re a growing, committed and diverse team working to create an innovative programme including our museum, multiple events and festivals, our award-winning learning programme and our new Vocational programme. We craft fun and educational experiences that change our different communities’ lives. We’re passionate about our art form but knowledge of videogames is not essential.  We’re committed to creating a diverse and flexible working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, disability, gender or sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief. We can provide materials in alternate formats on request. Our offices are wheelchair accessible.

 

 

 

 

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”

BGI has been shortlisted for the prestigious Museums + Heritage Awards. BGI is one of 6 museums and visitor attractions listed for Fundraiser of the Year for our Save the National Videogame Museum Crowdfunding Campaign. The winner will be announced on 1st July.

The BGI’s trustees have voted to change the make-up of the charity’s Board of Trustees.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Claire Boissiere has been appointed Chair of the BGI, after serving as Vice Chair for the last 2 years. Claire is Studio Manager at Jumpship, an independent game studio based in Guildford, UK.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ian Livingstone CBE has been appointed the new President of the charity, after serving as Chair since the charity’s foundation in 2019.

Ian said: “It has been an honour serving as Chair. Passing the Chairship to Claire Boissiere is an important next step as the charity moves forward with its mission to empower all people to play, learn and connect through our National Videogame Museum, our collections and the public and educational programmes we offer. Claire has shown outstanding commitment and diligence in helping to found the charity and manage the Trustees day to day. I’m confident that she will guide us into a bright future.”

Claire Boissiere said “It’s been a pleasure working as Vice Chair alongside Ian Livingstone and the team whilst founding the BGI and I’m excited to be appointed Chair as the charity moves forward into a new chapter. Along with many other charities and museums, we’ve been severely affected by Covid-19 and the restrictions needed to ensure our loved ones stayed protected. But through the dedication and perseverance of our team, the generosity of our games industry patrons and public funding from the Arts Council England, we are now in a position to plan ahead. It’s this amazing commitment and support for games’ heritage, culture and education that excites me, and motivates us as a team to take on the upcoming challenges that we all still face. I see this as an opportunity to re-assess the needs of our various audiences and to tailor our future offerings so they remain relevant in a post covid world and to ensure everything we do is inclusive to all. I look forward to sharing more of our plans in the near future.”

BGI has posted videos of all the sessions from the Games Education Summit, which ran in late March. The Summit featured a highly diverse range of speakers who gave keynotes, joined panels and contributed to workshops on the challenges and opportunities in games education and vocational pathways.

You can watch all of the videos from this influential conference here.