PlayUK 20/21 is a playful and inspiring digital programme that brings together creatives working in videogames from across the UK and the Western Balkans.
This time we will be hosting brand new all digital series of PlayUK and for the first in a brand new series of bi-weekly expert salon talks. Come and join us here:
PlayUK 20/21 Salons
After several exciting editions across the Western Balkans, including live events held in major cities in the region over the last 3 years, as well as successful online sessions held between March and August 2020, the British Council is delighted to announce that the next season of PlayUK is ready to kick off!
PlayUK is the British Council’s platform supporting creativity in digital art, offering access to new skills and knowledge, and creating and strengthening the interaction between art and technology. By creating connections between practitioners across digital disciplines and the arts from the UK and Western Balkans countries, PlayUK explores topics such as coding, hardware, games and performance, games theory, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, augmented reality, animation, immersive media, creative computing, narrative design, and other digital practice in art, forming a unique connection between creative and tech sectors.
This season, we are thrilled to work with Marie Foulston, an award-winning creative producer of radical exhibitions, video games, installations and digital projects, who has designed an engaging and inspiring programme for industry professionals and digital enthusiasts alike. Named one of the 100 most influential women in the UK games industry in 2019, Marie worked as a video game curator for V&A, the world’s leading museum of art, design and performance. Marie’s portfolio boasts years of collaborations with major game studios such as Nintendo and Naughty Dog, and her recent curatorial work on the digital exhibition Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt made the headlines.
With Marie’s expert input and innovative touch, the upcoming edition of PlayUK will present a diverse programme that plays to the strengths of the online medium. We’ll continue with bi-weekly online professional development workshops, warmly dubbed ‘salons’. This year, we will also premiere a tailored mentorship scheme between UK mentors and Western Balkans participants, presenting a unique opportunity for projects and teams in development to work with some of the best UK game experts. PlayUK will culminate in a special online showcase event in spring 2021, which will present the results of the mentorships, as well as extra video game content for a wide range of game and digital art enthusiasts.
Through our adventurous programme, we are hoping to once again foster an exchange of ideas and practices between the UK and Western Balkans; provide exciting learning, mentoring, and networking opportunities to the game development community in the region; encourage collaboration between artists and IT professionals and, as always, present audiences with new experiences.