Despite the ongoing worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, British Columbia’s video game and animation industries are going strong.
DigiMusic invites B.C. high school students from grade 7 to 12 to create music for video games and animation. This free summer program is now available in a facilitated online format for teens wishing to learn these skills.
DigiMusic caters to students interested in music creation or those who are bored at home and looking for something creative to do. With five workshops taught by a professional music educator, teens will learn how to create an original composition that aligns with one of the four 30-second clips available for this year’s challenge.
After viewing the five workshops, students will create a submission based on one of the clips. They’ll then get to participate in an online panel with industry professionals and hear about their career pathways into the video game and animation sectors. A final celebration of talent will be held in mid-August where student work will be highlighted, and a well-known B.C. artist will give an exclusive performance.
Additionally, students who submit an original score will be entered into a draw for some terrific music-related prizes, such as sound mixers and headphones, to support their continued music creation journey.
British Columbia has long been a hub for creative technology. The sector has been building video games and creating interactive media for more than four decades, and the province is known as a global centre for great content.
Many British Columbians aren’t aware that some of the most successful entertainment brands in the world have been created right here. Examples include FIFA(Electronic Arts), Spider-Man (Sony Pictures Imageworks), Don’t Starve (Klei Entertainment), and The Lego Movie franchise (Animal Logic). On top of that, there’s also the VFX sector that is doing spectacular work, including the Game of Thronesdragonsand Disney’s The Mandalorian.
Video game and animation studios in B.C. can be found in Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo, Qualicum, Burnaby, Langley and Kelowna. Jobs in the creative technology sector pay almost twice the provincial average and are a great place to build a fun and creative career, whether you are into coding, art, production, sound or music composition.
Funding for this summer DigiBC program has been generously provided by Creative BC and the Amplify BC fund (Government of British Columbia). For more information, please visit www.digibc.org/digimusic or contact [email protected].
