The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) has just announced that its organization will be awarding grants geared in the proliferation of digital media, more specifically in the arena of video game development.
NEA’s grant category of The Arts on Radio and Television has been replaced with The Arts in Media. It focuses in intensifying the organization’s support toward initiative campaigns and platforms that strengthen the need for multimedia as key educational and cultural preservation tool.
NEA is a stalwart supporter of U. S.-based organizations that promote the arts and culture, specifically in the disciplines of arts education, dance, folk & traditional arts, literature, music, and many more.
According to NEA’s grant guidelines page:
The Arts in Media builds on the success of The Arts on Radio and Television. All project types that were previously eligible remain eligible. In addition, the expanded category now includes:
- All available media platforms such as the Internet, interactive and mobile technologies, digital games, arts content delivered via satellite, as well as on radio and television
- Media projects that can be considered works of art
Support for violence and digital voyeurism imminent?
NEA has stated in its core guidelines that the organization will only support revolutionary projects with main concentration on the “development and national distribution of the arts.”
Despite NEA considering a multimedia approach, video game grants is only limited with projects that benefit the cultural momentum of the United States through digital media. Furthermore, proposals that benign the creation of video games with violent and voyeuristic material will be likely rejected by NEA’s Board of Trustees.
Video game proposals, or programs for video game development, must carefully consider that NEA is not going to casually award grants for games that will cause a massive cultural backlash.
NEA has allotted a maximum award of $10,000 to $200,000. Awards vary by target proximity, complexity, and scope of the project.
The application for NEA’s The Arts in Media program starts on September 1, 2011.
Multimedia grants spearheading high-end gaming development
Harrisburg University recently submitted a proposal entitled, “Alternate Reality Game for Achieving Mastery of Common Core Standards in Grade Mathematics.” Educational institutions like Harrisburg University is setting gaming precedent in fostering new, compelling methods to teach children.
Perhaps, video game development in the country has become an innovative trigger in lifting the cultural and educational status of the country known to have produced controversial titles such as Grand Theft Auto and Manhunt.
Harrisburg University submitted their proposal via the Next Generation Learning Challenges, an organization that invests in programs that address emerging educational barricades.
