The New York Videogame Critics Circle is now a 501(c)3 non-profit arts education organization. So when we receive a donation, it goes to mentoring kids and older adults with games, games history and games journalism.
We are a multicultural organization. Everyone is welcome regardless of race, ethnicity or gender. That’s how we began. That’s how we will go forward – forever.
We mentor at a high school in the poorest Congressional district in the United States. It’s in the Bronx. It’s full of cool people in a great community. But it’s very under-served.
What else? We mentor awesome older adults, too. Older people deserve great tech and games – like everyone else. They love VR games. When one person played Until Dawn: Rush of Blood, she said, “I’m too old to go to Coney Island and ride the roller coaster. But this is even better.”
We hold panels and workshops at the main branch of the New York Public Library. We don’t charge for our time. We give it freely because we want kids to learn.
All the monies from tickets you buy for the New York Game Awards on 1/22/19 go to funding our work in under-served communities.
We’re really expanding. We now have satellite Critics Circles at Lehman College, Bronx Tech, Orlando and the Bronx’s DreamYard Prep School. That’s five Critics Circles!
Next up? We’ll have a Critics Circle in an underserved school in Washington, D.C. Wait ’til you hear who’ll be mentoring at that chapter.
People like PlayStation President Shawn Layden, Nintendo America’s President Reggie Fils-Aime and Rockstar’s Simon Ramsey help us mentor in high schools. They talk about their varied pathways to success. (And they talk about their favorite games, too!)
We love art. So we’re partnering with the Museum of Modern Art to bring students to talk to senior curators at the museum. And that’s just the beginning of our partnership.
We are applying for grant from a prominent foundation that will take us to Harlem and perhaps to Brownsville as well. Preliminarily, things are looking great. Fingers crossed!
Here’s a video talk from founder Harold Goldberg. He spoke at Games For Change about our program:
