US opens arts funding to videogames

The US National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has added videogames to its list of artistic projects eligible to receive federal funding. Starting now, potential developers can apply for grants of up to $200,000 dollars provided they use the money to create a game for non-financial gains, and they avoid rehashing the “videogames as art” debate every damn time they're invited to hang out.

Recently, the NEA revealed it had renamed its old Arts on Radio and Television category to The Arts in Media – making grants that were once exclusive television, film and radio pursuits open to interactive technologies, as well as satellite and internet media.

The specific qualifications for the grant read:

Projects may include high profile multi-part or single television and radio programs (documentaries and dramatic narratives); media created for theatrical release; performance programs; artistic segments for use within an existing series; multi-part webisodes; installations; and interactive games. Short films, five minutes and under, will be considered in packages of three or more.

To be clear: this is free money to develop free games that are of legitimate value to society. We're talking about games that train kidsavoid landminesor war simulations that help soldiersget some shut-eye, not gamesthat revolve around tossing birds at pigs orones thatrevel in dick jokes(even though theymay have a degree of artistic merit themselves). Those who dream of developing the latter should probably stick to pursuing the normal avenues for entering the game biz (i.e. hoping, praying, blackmail, bribery, etc.), while anyone who feels their ideasare noble enough to deserve federal funding for 2012have untilSeptember 1st, 2011, to apply for a grant.

[Source:Icrontic]

May 9, 2011



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Recently, the NEA revealed it had renamed its old Arts on Radio and Television category to The Arts in Media – making grants that were once exclusive television, film and radio pursuits open to interactive technologies, as well as satellite and internet media.

The specific qualifications for the grant read:

Projects may include high profile multi-part or single television and radio programs (documentaries and dramatic narratives); media created for theatrical release; performance programs; artistic segments for use within an existing series; multi-part webisodes; installations; and interactive games. Short films, five minutes and under, will be considered in packages of three or more.

To be clear: this is free money to develop free games that are of legitimate value to society. We're talking about games that train kidsavoid landminesor war simulations that help soldiersget some shut-eye, not gamesthat revolve around tossing birds at pigs orones thatrevel in dick jokes(even though theymay have a degree of artistic merit themselves). Those who dream of developing the latter should probably stick to pursuing the normal avenues for entering the game biz (i.e. hoping, praying, blackmail, bribery, etc.), while anyone who feels their ideasare noble enough to deserve federal funding for 2012have untilSeptember 1st, 2011, to apply for a grant.

[Source:Icrontic]

May 9, 2011



US videogame trains Cambodian kids to detect and avoid land mines
Undercover UXO being adapted for use in other countries




War simulation games help real soldiers sleep
New survey sheds light on how soldiers' nightmares differ between gamers and non gamers




Duke Nukem Forever “shrinkage” trailer is one (more) minute of explosions and dick jokes
Inventive elements concealed cleverly within layer upon layer of innuendo

Matt Bradford wrote news and features here at GamesRadar+ until 2016. Since then he's gone on to work with the Guinness World Records, acting as writer and researcher for the annual Gamer's Edition series of books, and has worked as an editor, technical writer, and voice actor. Matt is now a freelance journalist and editor, generating copy across a multitude of industries.