A GAIN For One Is a GAIN for all

The Game Arts International Network (GAIN) is a registered not-for-profit focused on interconnecting existing game arts organizations and nurturing new structures in emerging regions.

As games are increasingly recognized for their cultural value, local collectives and organizations with a focus on games as a form of creative expression have begun to emerge all over the world. These entities have the potential to be an enduring resource for creators in this field if they’re able to meet the challenges of sustainability and renewal.

We are getting rolling by helping people to…

Learn About Game Arts Topics

Game Arts Curators Kit

Want to exhibit or present videogames but don’t know where to start? Check out the Game Arts Curators Kit, a 70 pg handbook written and edited by over 25 experienced folk in the field, spanning the practical to the political, the ethical to the aesthetic. Created during GAIA 2021 with the collaboration of various experts in the field.

Game Arts International Assembly 

Co-founded by Lu Oulton, GAIA is an intimate in-person symposium for game art curators and game community organizers to level up their professional development and connect with their international peers. In addition to on site talks sharing personal experiences, playful workshops, and practical sessions, GAIA  includes field trips to different locations in the city. It happens every two years in a different city (Buenos Aires in 2019, Toronto in 2023, and Barcelona in 2025). Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page for updates on when to apply.

Microphone GAIN Podcast

We host online sessions to share information of interest to game arts organizers and curators. The format we’re starting with will be a live discussion between two people, one with experience on a topic and one seeking more information on that topic, while anyone else who’s interested can listen in. At the end this audience will be able to add their comments and ask questions. We recorded these sessions and released them as podcasts.

You can search for Microphone GAIN on your podcast app or manually add our RSS Feed, or view all the episodes here

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Get Inspired

Videogame Arts Around the World in 2024

We’re back with a fresh edition of GAIN’s annual roundup newsletter, first launched in 2016 to annually spotlight and celebrate game art events from around the globe!

This year, we’re thrilled to share highlights from 22 events across 14 countries, featuring everything from trailblazing pioneers to emerging voices, and from grand festivals to intimate pop-up gatherings. María Luján Oulton returns as editor, reaching out to friends, colleagues, and like-minded communities to collect their favorite snapshots from the game art events and projects of 2024.

If you enjoy this roundup, please share the link and let us know about any events, projects, or people we may have missed—we’d love to include them in future editions.

PLAYTOPIA – South Africa (Capetown)

Their Festival Director Dominique Gawlowski tells us “We could see a major uptick in attendance and interest in the event compared to previous years. We are extremely pleased with how this event has evolved over the years from a small low key indie fest to much higher level of production standards, larger attendance and much more industry support. 

We had over 80 games on exhibit in our main arcade from around the world with a focus on African made games. Our Indie Planet has also grown! We have begun to develop relationships with other similarly minded festivals such as Bitsummit (Japan), Now Play This (UK), A.Maze (Germany) and Freeplay (Australia) and showcase their best in shows for South African audiences. We had two large rooms filled with both international and African made immersive art installations and two days of talks at our Playtopia summit with special guests coming to speak about the craft of making games and the creative process.”

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GAIA 2025 in Barcelona Applications Open

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We are thrilled to announce the open call for the fifth edition of GAIA, taking place in Barcelona in 2025. GAIA (Game Arts International Assembly) is an international symposium and gathering dedicated to exploring the intersections of games, play, and art through critical and creative perspectives. For years, GAIA has provided a unique platform for curators, artists, game designers, scholars, and cultural practitioners from around the world to engage in meaningful conversations, share pioneering projects, and foster a global network within game arts.

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Find Game Arts People In Your Area

This is a non-exhaustive and unofficial list of entities who currently showcase and nurture games made primarily for creative reasons — including organizations, collectives and events. You can add to the map via this form. Contact jim@gameartsinternational.network for more info. NOTE: This is for informational purposes and does not imply any relationship between GAIN and the listed entities.

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Get on the GAIN Train!

After we gather some steam, we can take on bigger issues like cultural advocacy to challenge the scapegoating of games, establish art residencies to cross-fertilize our communities, and lots of other fun stuff!

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About Us

GAIN STAKEHOLDERS include game arts organizers and curators in Los Angeles, Montreal, Buenos Aires, Vancouver, Madrid, Ottawa, Austin, Seattle, Tel Aviv, Halifax, New York, Berlin, Melbourne, Portland, Reykjavík, Pittsburgh, London, Boston, Copenhagen, Cape Town and Toronto.

JIM MUNROE is the executive director of GAIN. Prior to that he co-founded the Hand Eye Society, the world’s first videogame arts organization, and was its executive director for seven years. While there he produced the Torontron indie arcade cabinet, the Fancy Videogame Party, The WordPlay Festival of Writerly Games, and Camp Make-a-Game. His games have been showcased at Sundance and Cannes. You can reach him at jim@gameartsinternational.network.

MARIE LEBLANC FLANAGAN is an artist working in the playful spaces between people, especially related to connection and community. Marie builds experimental video games, playful installations, and cooperative experiences. Marie has an enduring fondness for the infinite possibilities of trash. Marie founded Wyrd Arts Initiatives (a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to encouraging, documenting, and connecting creative expression across Canada), A Kind of Play (workshops on making experimental games), Drone Day (an annual international celebration of drone music communities) and co-founded Imaginary Residency (an artist-run online residency). You can reach Marie at marie@gameartsinternational.network.

ADVISORY COMMITTEE: Lynn Hughes, Dhruv Jani, Jonathan Kinkley, Emily Rose Koonce, Shalev Moran, Sithe Ncube, Lujan Oulton, Lorenzo Pilia, Pietro Righi Riva.

BOARD: Cindy Poremba, Sagan Yee.

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