Melanin Power Up! is a supportive space for LGBTQIA+ POC who are curious about experimental game design and playable art.
thursday 30 january 2025
11:30am - 4:30pm
screen south, digital:glassworks,
folkestone, kent
ct20 1jg
A Workshop for QTIPOC by QTIPOC
Join us at Melanin Power Up! a supportive space for LGBTQIA+ people of colour who are curious about experimental game design and playable art. Whether you’re interested in the art of play or eager to explore what makes games tick, this workshop is your entry point into a world where creativity, culture, and community unite.
Explore. Create. Connect.
Our workshop isn’t just about representation—it’s about revolutionizing gaming by empowering you to challenge the norms. By using experimental game design Melanin Power Up! aims to explore new ideas, provoke thought, and expand the artistic and cultural potential of games as a medium.
Here, you’ll create, play, and bond with others who share your experiences. Together, we’ll reimagine what games can be, break boundaries, and inject new voices into an industry that often overlooks us. Let’s reimagine game design through the eyes of our diverse, powerful community.
What can you expect?
- Hands-On Learning: Dive into approachable, accessible technology and paper prototyping that keeps the focus on your creativity. You’ll work on quick prototypes and leave with a taste of what it’s like to think like a game developer.
- Social Connection: Meet like-minded individuals, share your stories, and forge bonds through collaborative play and game creation. We’re building communities that extend far beyond a single session.
- Entry Level Participants Welcome: No prior experience? No problem. This workshop is designed for those at the beginning of their gaming journey—whether you’re a player, a designer, or just curious about the potential of play.
Who is this for?
- QTIPOC: LGBTQIA+ people of colour from African, Asian, Caribbean, Latin American, and Middle Eastern background .
- New and Curious: Perfect for those with little to no experience but an open mind to discover the joy of creating and playing.
- Entry-Level Game Enthusiasts: If you’ve ever felt shut out of traditional gaming spaces, Melanin Power Up invites you in.
- Ages 18+
Who will you be learning from?
I’m Symoné, an alternative game designer and interdisciplinary artist based between London and Kent (UK) and Washington DC (USA). My journey as a creator is multifaceted, intersecting between circus performance, cabaret, alternative theatre, videogames, and digital arts. With a Guinness World Record to my name I have experience with clients such as La Soirée, the Royal Opera House, and Sony as a circus performer. As a creative director, I create small to medium-scale productions that blend circus, theatre, and digital media to explore the intricate relationships between the body, movement, and storytelling. Apart from creating my own productions, cultivating spaces for people of color is important to my practice. I’m the creative director for Uprising, an artistic residency programme for artists of the Global Majority, supported by Jerwood Arts.
Central to all my practices is to explore storytelling with and about the body and queering art. I am a graduate at the School of Oriental and African Studies (BA Anthropology) and a graduate at game development academy Code Coven. I’m passionate about pushing the limits of how stories are told and the medium they can be told in, particularly in the context of video games, where I experiment with queer protagonists and creating anti-games.
Empower yourself. Connect with others. Change the game.
Supported by UK Black Pride, NYX UK, and Screen South
