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Video Game Ambassadors - mentor the next generation from the comfort of your home

As you all know, at the start of March we re-launched the Videogame Ambassador programme along with Into Games, to transform how studios and staff connected to games related educational opportunities in schools and colleges around the UK. 

We wanted to create an easy to use platform that meant young people could get access to better guidance on industry careers and get support in everything from masters classes to game jams, while helping them to better connect to existing initiatives, like BAFTA Young Games Designer and Digital School House.   

Four days after we launched, the world changed. It was then announced that all schools were to close - like everyone, this meant we had to adapt to this new reality.   

Rather than be deterred, we’ve compiled a list of 23 remote opportunities available for VGAs to help inspire the next generation of young people from the safety of your own home.

You can have a browse through them all here, or see below for some edited highlights.

If you have some time today, why not… 

...record your One Minute Mentor for Digital Schoolhouse!   

At Digital Schoolhouse we want to keep inspiring students with the vast careers opportunities that exist in our industry – and we need your help! Become a One Minute Mentor by submitting your 1 minute video, and be part of grassroots careers in our industry.  

One Minute Mentor (OMM) is a careers resource which aims to inspire pupils with the breadth of roles available in the video games and creative digital sector through punchy, digestible videos hosted on our YouTube channel. This resource features a library of one-minute videos created by industry professionals to educate aspiring pupils on careers pathways they might not have otherwise considered. 

Download our volunteer brief here

...offer long term guidance for a young person studying games over Slack.   

The Into Games 2020 Digital Mentorship Programme is now open and committed to connecting 100 young game makers from underrepresented groups directly to industry staff to help provide them with really powerful careers advice. 

The programme uses the common digital messaging tool, Slack so it should fit easily into most professionals lives. This takes no more than 15 mins of your week, but has a potentially huge impact on those that you connect with. 

Sign up now. 

...share your knowledge by writing some engaging content for the UK’s biggest student database of games careers information 

Intogames.org is launching officially in April, and with support from Ukie, will be the number 1 place for young people aged 14-19 to get information on career pathways into the sector. It has 130 job roles mapped to educational pathways and allows young people to see every games related course, internship and youth initiative currently available.    

The website is looking to conduct email based interviews with at least 1 person for each job role on the site, as well as have a regular stream of articles that directly answer young people's burning questions about entering the games sector. 

Browse the list.

...help motivate student developers by giving a remote talk through LevelUp UK 

 

LevelUp UK exists to help student developers stay motivated, inspired and determined to make games, which is especially important now that universities and colleges have closed. They are looking for speakers to stream remote talks on a number of topics throughout the coming months to their wide user base. 

They are currently on the look for VGA’s that can speak on; procedural generation and Game Audio Design

Sign up for to become a remote Video Game Ambassador at the VGA site here: https://gamesambassadors.org.uk/become-a-vga/