For immediate release: Friday 25 January

The V&A, London, V&A at Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee announce an exciting opportunity for Games Designers to spend a six-month research period at the V&A, London followed by a period at Abertay University developing new work in response to the V&A’s collections. The residency has been organised in collaboration with the Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE), the games industry body.

Proposals are invited from UK-based digital games designers who wish to develop their design practice by working with the V&A’s collections, notably works in the Britain 1500 – 1900 galleries, and through public engagement activities. The V&A Residency will be based in London for a six-month period (October 2013 to March 2014) followed by a production period in Dundee, supported by V&A at Dundee partners, to take place before the end of July 2014.

The residency provides a monthly bursary and budget for materials and equipment as well as studio space. A team drawn from the V&A’s staff, Abertay University and an industry mentor will provide support throughout the project.

Ruth Lloyd, V&A Residency Co-ordinator, said: ‘Games design is a growing industry in the UK and Britain is now one of the leaders in the world in this field. It is a highly skilled form of design that requires both creative and scientific skills. The V&A’s first games design residency is an exciting opportunity for the Museum to recognise and support this form of design and will offer a games designer access to specialist expertise as well as use of the V&A’s extraordinary collections as creative inspiration to produce new work.’

Professor Louis Natanson, who leads computer games education at Abertay University, said: ‘The V&A’s first ever games design residency is an incredibly exciting opportunity for designers in the early or middle stages of their career. We’re delighted to see the world's greatest museum of art and design and the V&A at Dundee both embrace the enormous creativity and cultural importance of computer games.’

ENDS

Notes to Editors

Full details for applying are available at http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/jobs/apply/ The deadline for applications is 8th February.

The Games Design residency is in collaboration with The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE).

About the V&A

The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design with collections unrivalled in their scope and diversity. It was established to make works of art available to all and to inspire British designers and manufacturers. Today, the V&A’s collections, which span over 2000 years of human creativity in virtually every medium and from many parts of the world, continue to intrigue, inspire and inform.

www.vam.ac.uk

V&A Residency Programme

The V&A has three Residency Studios, two multi-disciplinary studios and a third studio, for ceramics, situated within the Ceramics Galleries. The Residency Programme is integral to Learning Programmes at the Museum. Past Residents have gone on to achieve significant success in their professional careers, winning prizes and securing gallery representation.

www.vam.ac.uk/residencies

About V&A at Dundee

V&A at Dundee will be the first ever purpose-built design museum to be constructed in the UK outside London. It will provide more than 1700 square metres of gallery space and will be one of the largest dedicated exhibition spaces in Scotland. The galleries will host world-class exhibitions of international design, alongside displays devoted to outstanding Scottish design – historical, contemporary and of the future.

V&A at Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a ground-breaking partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum - the world's greatest museum of art and design - and Dundee City Council, the Universities of Dundee and Abertay Dundee, and Scottish Enterprise. The new building is being designed by a team led by architects Kengo Kuma & Associates.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) awarded it a first round pass of up to £9.2m, including £200,000 development funding, in May 2012. The Scottish Government has committed £15m in capital towards the project’s £45million budget.

www.vandaatdundee.com

About Abertay University

Abertay University launched the world’s first computer games technology degree in 1997, and runs both the UK Centre of Excellence for Computer Games Education and the international game design contest Dare to be Digital. A unique partnership with BAFTA makes Dare the exclusive pathway to the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award, a major recognition of up-and-coming games talent. The University also runs the Abertay University Prototype Fund to support start-up and small digital developers across the UK. Abertay has the highest number of Skillset accreditations for computer games courses as well as holding full Skillset Media Academy status.

www.abertay.ac.uk/studying/schools/amg/