An update on all things Rad Magpie from our Executive Director, Dana Steinhoff.
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Rad Magpie is the story of an organization that began with a big question and an explosion of energy, then iterated and evolved every year until it became something that is perhaps now unrecognizable. It is about following a thread to places unknown. It is about excitement, heartbreak, grief, hard decisions, and easy ones. It is about money. Flexible schedules and sleepless nights. Impact in the right and wrong places. It is about failure, success, and reinvention. This is its story.
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Many of you have known us through different iterations. We’ve taught at summer coding camps for girls, developed a couple video game titles, held events at local schools, and ran three summers of Rad Studio. Our inspiration and mission has always been the same -- to support the voices of marginalized game developers -- but our manner of execution has evolved.
Each one of these programs has been rewarding, but we couldn’t shake the feeling that focusing our energy would have a bigger impact on our mission. We wanted to hone in.
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The Make a Wish Foundation of Vermont approached us in the winter months of 2019 to make someone’s dream to make a video game come true. Larger studios had rejected their ask: making a video game is expensive, as in, really freaking expensive. But everyone at Rad Magpie was energized by the idea and we were looking to get a release under our belt.
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At the beginning of September, it felt like we ran smack into this metaphorical wall. Our high-effort, high-impact summer of Rad Studio Online wrapped up, and for the first time since we transitioned to virtual work in March, the Rad Magpie team took a collective breath. And then, in both a literal and figurative sense, we all took a nice big nap.
This was much needed when the air started getting crisper and the days started getting shorter. But now, it’s been two months since we took that breath, that nap, that step back from our nose-to-the-grindstone pace. How have we refreshed our energy and managed the difficulties of hitting the wall?
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Through our work we…
… Amplify the voices of people who have systematically been excluded by breaking down barriers and eliminating gatekeepers to game development. We promote a sense of community and validity of identity for individuals who, like ourselves, are underrepresented in the industry. We offer opportunities that encourage growth while providing the mentorship needed to succeed, and see failure as an opportunity to learn and grow. In this way, we embrace risk-taking and a sense of audacity in creation.
… Fulfill our mission to support underrepresented creators and radical interactive media, and establish our workplace and the industry as safer space. We make game development more accessible by working directly against the forces of racism and white supremacy, sexism, ableism, ageism, and homophobia.
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Holy moly it’s certainly been a summer, hasn’t it?
How are you holding up?
This year has been a lot. For everyone. We, however, consider ourselves pretty lucky. We were able to transition entirely online very quickly which meant that we could still pay all of our employees (15 total through the summer) and fulfill all of our programmatic responsibilities. We transitioned our summer college mentorship program for underrepresented creators entirely online, which certainly meant a bit of overtime, but led to our strongest Summer yet:
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Didn't catch our microtalks at our End of Summer Party? We have them all uploaded to YouTube for your viewing pleasure! We’ve compiled them here, too, just to make it that much easier for ya!
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