Image credit: Izzy Gramp. From left to right: Trent Kusters, Jess Kilby, and Dan Golding
We’re really excited to announce today that we’ve assembled a new team for our 2014 festival. We’ve got journalist and academic Dan Golding on as our new director, and two new board appointments, in the guise of artist, writer and game designer Jess Kilby (of Pop Up Playground fame), and designer Trent Kusters (of League of Geeks fame). You can follow Trent, Jess, and Dan on twitter, as well, of course as the festival.
We’ve got lots more exciting announcements about the festival to come, so keep an eye out for more news!
Our full press release follows below.
Freeplay Announces 2014 Appointments
The Freeplay Independent Games Festival is pleased to announce a host of exciting new developments for 2014.
Journalist Dan Golding has taken up the position of Festival Director for Freeplay in 2014. The Freeplay board has also been expanded, with the addition of artist, writer and game designer Jess Kilby (Pop Up Playground), and designer Trent Kusters (League of Geeks).
“We’re really excited about these additions to the Freeplay team,” said Freeplay Board Chair, Hugh Davies. “Dan, Trent, and Jess have long been friends of the festival and they add important perspectives for the future of Freeplay.”
In 2014, Freeplay will be marking ten years of the festival after the first event was held as part of Next Wave in 2004.
“I’m really excited to be joining Freeplay as director for 2014,” said Golding. “It’s a festival that’s been really important to a lot of people interested in games in Australia, including myself.”
“It’s also a festival that I’ve taken a close interest in chronicling in my work as a journalist,” added Golding. “I look forward to working with Freeplay’s amazing team to make our tenth anniversary a great one.”
Further announcements about Freeplay’s tenth anniversary festival will continue throughout the year, with plenty more to come.
Media Contact:
Dan Golding
dan@freeplay.net.au
www.freeplay.net.au
@free_play
About Dan Golding
Dan Golding is a critic, journalist, and a sessional lecturer at The University of Melbourne, where he is currently completing a PhD. He has written about the intersection of videogames, art, and public policy for ABC Arts, Crikey, Metro Magazine, Hyper Magazine, The Guardian, Meanjin, The Walkley Magazine, Kill Your Darlings, The Conversation, The Australian, Kotaku, PC PowerPlay and more. In 2013, he won the ‘Best Games Journalist’ award at the 11th Annual Australian IT Journalism ‘Lizzie’ awards. Dan is also a co-founder and editor of publishing company Press Select. He has spoken at the Melbourne Writer’s Festival, the Perth Writer’s Festival, the Emerging Writer’s Festival, and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, as well as appearing on SBS Television and numerous ABC local radio stations. Dan is also a regular on the Triple R radio program Byte Into It.
About Jess Kilby
Jess Kilby is an artist, writer and game designer. She is the Pervasive Play Developer for Pop Up Playground – a Melbourne collective that makes physical, social games and playful experiences. Jess holds an MA in Creative Technology and a BA in Journalism, and was one of the first writers outside of the games press to cover ARGs and other ludic uses of emerging, social technologies. She is currently pursuing a PhD in public art through RMIT University.
About Trent Kusters
Trent Kusters is the founder and director of indie game development collective League of Geeks and a lecturer at the Victorian College of the Arts. Previously, Trent was design director at Torus Games, consulted the film industry as well as state and federal governments on game development and design, has written on games culture for major publications, and was named one of Australia’s 25 top young achievers in 2010 by Triple J. Trent is also invested in the future of game development; fostering and mentoring students and contributing to the game development community wherever possible.