The NYU Game Center, a department of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts housed at NYU’s Brooklyn campus, has been selected by Empire State Development (ESD) to receive a grant of $450,000 over three years to establish a Digital Gaming Hub in New York City.
The NYU Game Center, a department of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts housed at NYU’s Brooklyn campus, has been selected by Empire State Development (ESD) to receive a grant of $450,000 over three years to establish a Digital Gaming Hub in New York City. The NYU Game Center was one of three institutions of higher learning selected, along with Rochester institute of Technology and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
ESD’s goal for the Digital Gaming Hubs is to encourage collaborative activities in gaming that bring together industry, higher education, non-profit organizations, and individuals to foster creation of new games and companies. Hubs will ideally provide resources and mentoring to encourage students and entrepreneurs, including hosting events and providing incubator space and services.
“The NYU Game Center is proud to have been selected as one of the State’s Digital Gaming Hubs and we’re very grateful to Senator Golden, as well as all the individuals and organizations who supported us in winning this grant,” said Frank Lantz, chair of the NYU Game Center. “A core part of our mission has always been to create community and support local game developers, through a longstanding program of professional, public, and community events. We look forward to expanding our game incubator, creating more public programming, and energizing the games industry in New York City by connecting talented developers and industry partners through the Hub.”
“New York University’s new Digital Gaming Hub will encourage students and businesses to create new innovative technologies,” said Empire State Development President, CEO & Commissioner Howard Zemsky. “This funding will also help entrepreneurs and start-ups develop new products and spur economic growth throughout the region.”
Since its establishment in 2008, the Game Center has consistently offered free and public events to a growing community of gaming enthusiasts, including the Lecture Series, No Quarter, and the 2016Global Game Jam. These events will serve as the cornerstone of the new Hub, which thanks to ESD support, will also encompass new initiatives, such as expanding the successful NYU Game Center incubator to include developers outside NYU. The Center will also be soliciting suggestions from local game makers, students, and gaming enthusiasts in the community over the coming months regarding what they’d like to see the Hub develop. For more information on submitting ideas, contact gamecenter@nyu.edu.
About the NYU Game Center
The NYU Game Center explores the design and development of games as a creative practice. The program offers two-year Masters of Fine Arts (MFA) and four-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degrees in game design, as well as numerous open to the public events on the design, production, and study of games as an aesthetic and cultural form. For more information, visit gamecenter.nyu.edu.