Games for Change is pleased to invite you to our first XR for Change Talk & Play event.

Come learn from leading content creators who are making some of the most groundbreaking VR/MR/AR experiences that are having significant impact on social and civics issues. Speakers to be announced soon. In addition to a panel discussion, you will have an opportunity to network over cocktails and try the VR projects first hand at our Talk and Play demo area.

Agenda:

- 6:00-6:15 pm: Welcome drinks

- 6:15-7:15 pm: Panel discussion and Q&A

- 7:15-8:30 pm: VR demos, networking and cocktails

Moderator:

Erik Martin, Senior Education Program Manager, Unity Technologies & XR4C Chair

Erik works on democratizing creativity and empowering learners with skills to help build the future. He previously served as a Policy Advisor at the White House, Office of Science and Technology Policy in the Obama Administration, where he helped develop numerous national education innovation policies and initiatives including reducing and rethinking standardized testing and CS for All, co-wrote the first memo to the president on XR technologies and hosted events like the White House Game Jam and HealthCare.Gov eSports competition.

Panelists:

Gabo Arora, LightShed

Gabo Arora is an award-winning filmmaker and Founder & Creative Director of LightShed, a virtual reality and social impact start-up. Formerly, he was a senior policy advisor and the UN's first-ever Creative Director. With over 15 years of humanitarian field experience, he has directed, produced and pioneered a series of widely acclaimed VR documentaries (Clouds Over Sidra, Waves of Grace, My Mother's Wing, amongst others) for the UN. They have all premiered at major film festivals around the world, including Cannes, Sundance and Tribeca, featured at the World Economic Forum in Davos, screened at the White House, and have exhibited at the MOMA's inaugural program on immersive storytelling.

Zohar Kfir, Media Artist

Zohar Kfir is a New York-based media artist working with experimental video, interactive art and VR. Her artistic practice employs non-linear narratives and traditional cinematic techniques and features expanded interactivity. Zohar has shown her work widely in galleries festivals and conferences including Tribeca Film Festival; Transmediale; NYUFF; FACT Liverpool; Oberhausen Film Festival; SIGGRAPH; ISEA and RIDM; and reviewed in TIME Magazine; The Creators Project; Engadget; i-Docs and Forbes among others.

Navid Khonsari

Khonsari broke onto the gaming scene with his work on Grand Theft Auto III and Max Payne when he joined Rockstar Games. His first short film was titled Arcade Angels, he also wrote and produced The Contract, and directed the award-winning documentary Pindemonium. He co-founded iNK Stories and produced another documentary, "Pulling John". iNK Stories is presently completing a graphic novel titled Bedouin, and in 2016 launched 1979 Revolution: Black Friday.

Jamie Pallot, Emblematic Group

Jamie Pallot is co-founder, along with Nonny de la Peña, of Emblematic Group, a pioneering VR/AR/XR company that has produced award-winning tools and content for partners including PBS Frontline, The New York Times, Google, The Wall Street Journal, Mozilla, the Sundance and Tribeca film festivals, and the World Economic Forum. He is a former Contributing Editor at Vanity Fair and Editorial Director of Condé Nast Digital, where he won a National Magazine Award for General Excellence. He has been a keynote speaker, presenter, and moderator at international events including Games For Change Europe, Fashion Tech Forum in New York, Re:Publica in Berlin, and the Nyon Film Festival in Geneva.

XR for Change Talk and Play