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

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Academy of Fun and Games

Welcome to a brand new weekend of videogames and learning, presented by Toronto Games Week! We have a game showcase at the AGO on Friday, go into indie dev talks on Saturday and game development workshops on Sunday!

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Video Game Appreciation Night
Friday Oct. 23rd, 6-9pm
AGO, Walker Court
317 Dundas Street W.

We’re turning Walker Court into a virtual playground. Dive into this lineup of standout video games as we play, explore, and get lost in the rich worlds and creative magic of video game art. Grab a drink and listen as Jim Munroe, former AGO Artist-in-Residence and Toronto Games Week co-founder, shares why he selected each game and asks questions of many of the games’ developers for behind-the-scenes looks at their processes and artistic inspirations. (Recap of last year’s event.)

Admission Included with General Ticket.

Young Ontarians between 14 and 24 years old can enjoy the AGO for free, all year long with the Free AGO Annual Pass,

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Indie Game Dev Summit
Sat. Oct. 24th, 10-4pm
U of T Bahen Centre
40 St. George St, BA 1160

In this time of industry uncertainty, we can benefit a lot from sharing knowledge of our craft with other creators in the city. Learn about the design processes that spawned local successes, get insights into unreleased prototypes and revealing postmortems, and level up your skills. Tickets and more information available here.

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Games Made Open! Open Source Game Development Tool Workshops
Sun. Oct. 25th, 10-4pm
Toronto Tool Library
192 Spadina, Ground Floor

Have you been wanting to dive into Godot, the free open source game creation tool that spawned successes like Slay the Spire 2? The Toronto Tool Library’s excellent workshop is a great place to start. How about Blender? Have you wanted to dip your toe into interactive narrative? The no-code-required interactive fiction tool Texture Writer will allow you to create a story game in the browser from start to finish. Arrive with passion – leave with a game you can share! Tickets and more information available here.

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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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