The inaugural South Melbourne Arcade Residency Tenure (SMART) program, which aims to provide assistive residency placement to emerging game developers within The Arcade Melbourne, has announced its initial class of 25 recipients.
‘We were blown away by the breadth of talent in the applications,’ Ceri Hutton, Director of Operations and Projects at The Arcade and IGEA said in a press release. ‘We want to offer an opportunity to provide equitable access to facilities in The Arcade, and the talent we found in the responses underlined the importance of programs like this.’
Each recipient will gain access to a desk at The Arcade, a co-working environment where game developers come together to work and share their expertise.
Read: SAE Institute teams up with Melbourne’s The Arcade
By enabling a more accessible entry point into the local games development industry, the SMART program aims to create a more diverse local game development community in Melbourne, and open up new opportunities for growth.
Recipients were selected based on three streams: early career, marginalised groups, and games adjacent.
‘The hurdle between study or entering from an adjacent field and getting that first industry job feels insurmountable,’ Sav Wolfe, Manager of Operations and Diversity Lead at The Arcade and IGEA said in a press release. ‘We’re working to help facilitate networking, conversation and upskilling our SMART recipients to help them get that great jump towards industry work.’
The program will run for three months, with developers able to use all the resources of The Arcade during their tenure.
Congratulations to the following recipients, and their gestating projects:
- Anthony Tan (He/Him) – way to the woods
- Brendan McFarlane (They/Them, He/Him) – The Monster Called Us
- Brennan Murray (Him/Him) – Food for Thought
- Cailean Congedo (They/Them) – Synth Ship
- Creatrix Tiara (They/Them) – No Objections Here: Proposals to license & produce a stage adaptation of a known video game
- Edmund Weir (He/Him) – Descendants of Earth
- Elliot Herriman (She/Her) – Unannounced Project
- Goldie Bartlett (She/They) – Wayward Strand
- Harry Wallace (He/Him) – ChronoCop
- Jacob Leaney (He/Him) – Video World 2
- Jamie Pendragon (She/Her, They/Them) – Monster Slayer Club!!
- Jordan Cook-Irwin (He/Him) – Matchmaker: Dungeon Heart
- Josie Sippel (She/Her) – The Change
- Krystal McDonald (She/Her) – Project TurnQuest
- Kwamena Brace (He/Him) – Primogenitor
- Luke Rotella (He/They) – Let’s Go TV, Rabo!
- Maeskye Trigg (She/Her) – Odyssey
- Marc Pagliuca (He/Him) – BRICOLE
- Matthew Jackson (He/Him) – My Arms Are Longer Now
- Max Kearney (He/They) – MOTH KOTH
- Natalia Shafa (She/Her) – Descendants of Earth
- Niamh Noble (She/Her) – Harvest Wife
- Nora Lück-Jennings (She/Her) – Violet Hubris
- Zahraa Al Zubaydi (She/Her) – Pixelle Hart
