NABA announces its partnership with Hacer Creativo, UT-HUB (Magic Fennec Training Centre), the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and FEM-DEVS for the implementation of the project “FAIR GAME / Fostering Gender Balance, Resilience and Leadership in Game Design Careers,” funded by the European Union through the Erasmus+ channel under the HED / Cooperation Partnership in Higher Education section.
Designed to promote social change towards gender equity in the video game sector through concrete changes at both industry and educational levels, this project aims to provide self-identifying women with the opportunity to foster inclusive technological ecosystems and acquire the digital skills necessary for video game design.
NABA participates in “FAIR GAME”: training and exchange moments
The “FAIR GAME” initiative includes various training and exchange moments. In January 2024, the first online and in-person workshops titled “Women in Games: Re-defining Success” were held in Barcelona, organised by FemDevs (an independent association of female video game developers focused on gender equality that promotes video game culture through meetings, workshops, conferences, and educational programs for all ages). The subsequent workshops, “Programming in a Safe, non-judgmental, and noncompetitive space,” took place in May 2024 in Malmö, promoted by the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts (the University of Architecture and Design in Copenhagen).
In October 2024, the workshops “The Future of Videogaming” are scheduled to be held again in Barcelona. Set up by FemDevs, these meetings are aimed at primary and secondary school femake students and provide for public restitution.
NABA participates in “FAIR GAME”: the results
In addition to the “Fair Game White Paper and Best Practice Guide,” a non-academic report containing observations and recommendations on how to improve the video game industry system, and the project-related documentary, which was exclusively showcased in Copenhagen during the winter of 2024 and is set to be presented at the NABA Campus in Milan with a concluding event in 2025, the project also includes a Dual Cities Summer Course divided into three parts.
The first part took place at the NABA Campus in Milan from 1 to 12 July: fifteen female students, selected through an open call from NABA, the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and Hacer Creativo (a Zaragoza-based institution for the production of international cultural projects and a university-level school of Higher Artistic Education in Design), delved into theoretical and interdisciplinary topics on gender and inclusivity issues.
Subsequently, from 2 to 13 September in Zaragoza, at Magic Fennec (a company specialising in professional virtual production) and UT-Hub (a training school for virtual production and video games), the same students will continue their training by developing practical projects and participating in tutoring sessions with industry professionals. The third and final phase involves the “Design Challenge”: over the next six months, the participants will work on their individual projects, which they will present in Zaragoza in September 2025.