Explore Video Games: The Great Connector Exhibition
Overview Supporters Press Opening Night Ceremony Lease Exhibition ContactOpening Night
Ceremony
The Video Games: The Great Connector exhibition held an opening reception on February 2, 2024 at the 60-year-old Harlem School of the Arts. Let’s look back at some of the messages shared by guests from the opening night reception on February 2 and the opening remarks that began the evening.
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YiYi Zhang, a lawyer, game developer and illustrator and member of the Board of Directors of GUMBO Collective Inc.
Anthony Casasnovas, NYC Public School Division of Instructional & Information Technology, and Director of the Battle of the Boroughs.
Alia Jones-Harvey, Associate Commissioner of NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment
Christopher Grant, University Heights High School
Jaye “Letta J” Watts, Founder and CEO of Coexist Gaming
Jose Sanchez, An Architect, Game Designer, and Theorist. He is the director of the Plethora Project.
Mashiq Ahmed, a high school chemistry teacher at John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, New York.
The evening began with Stan Altman, President of the Harlem Gallery of Science and Director of the Gaming Pathways Program welcoming those in attendance and highlighted the academic and career opportunities that New York City’s commitment to expand the digital gaming industry provides young Black and Latinx youth. James Horton, President of the Harlem School of the Arts welcomes the guests to the Harlem School of the Arts.
Curtis Archer and Karen Murray were introduced and emceed the remainder of the program that included remarks by Pat Kaufman, Commissioner of the NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment who read a portion of Mayor Adams’ Citation celebrating the Gallery’s initiatives, including this exhibition Video Games: The Great Connector Exhibition. Additional speakers included Mark Levine, Manhattan Borough President, Tony Liss, Provost and Professor of Physics at City College of New York, Baron Carr, from the Greater Chamber of Commerce and Sylvia Aguiñaga, a game designer who game is featured in the exhibition.
Throughout the evening, guests visited the exhibition and enjoyed the opportunities offered for game playing and engaging each other in conversation. A number of those in attendance were interviewed and their thoughts are shared below is short video clips.
