Vancouver-based Timbre Games has announced it will join forces with fellow British Columbia developers Blackbird Interactive and East Side Games to partner with the Vancouver Film School as it launches the Indigenous Scholarship for Video Games fund.
The Vancouver Film School is a post-secondary entertainment arts school training students in 13 immersive, production-oriented programmes.
The fund, worth over $200,000 CAD, will be available exclusively to First Nations (status or non-status), Inuit, or Métis applicants who are looking to enter the game industry as developers. It will feature three full-tuition scholarships for VFS’s Game Design programme and one full-tuition scholarship for VFS’s 3D Animation & Visual Effects programme.
Those who are selected for the scholarship will receive private mentorship from design professionals from either Timbre Games, Blackbird Interactive or East Side Games and, upon graduation, will receive a paid four-to-six-month contract at their respective studio.
The deadline to apply is 8 June 2022, and winners will be announced on National Indigenous Peoples Day, 21 June 2022. Further information can be found here.
Joe Nickolls, President and Co-Founder at Timbre Games, said: “At Timbre Games, our mission is driven by the idea that ‘culture drives creative’. The opportunity to support and collaborate with VFS, Blackbird Interactive and East Side Games on the Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games is a small first step to removing systemic barriers in entering the game industry for the Métis, Inuit, and First Nations people.
“All of us at Timbre are thrilled to be a small part of creating space in the games industry for these communities. I believe these students will play a significant role in the world of interactive entertainment in the years to come and we are grateful to have the opportunity to support their careers along the way. There is more hard work to be done in this space and Timbre is committed to listening and learning as we embark on our own journey.”
Timbre Games joined Sumo Group in July 2021 and has a focus on the action/adventure and simulation genres, drawing on the leadership team’s extensive experience in this area.