The New York Videogame Critics Circle and Reggie Fils-Aimé will be hosting fundraiser podcasts, in order to continue their education programs during the coronavirus pandemic.
Since retiring from Nintendo in February 2019, Fils-Aimé has also been a teacher at Cornell University, joined the New York Video Game Critics Circle’s Board of Directors, and the Board of Directors at GameStop.
The New York Videogame Critics Circle is “a non-profit organization that sees great benefit in advocating for those less fortunate in our community, everyone from students in the Bronx and Lower East Side to older adults who want to learn about and benefit from games and technology.”
Now the New York Video Game Critics Circle (NYVGCC) have announced (via press release an the Washington Post) will be hosting a special seven-part podcast fundraiser via GoFundMe.
Hosted by Fils-Aimé and NYVGCC founder and board president Harold Goldberg, the funds will be raised “to ensure the education, mentoring and scholarships at the heart of the organization’s mission won’t be derailed by the city’s current shutdown.” Goldberg explained the fundraiser further.
“The core work of the NYVGCC is to use the combination of games and journalism to provide educational opportunities, mentoring, internships and scholarships to underserved communities in the NYC area. In particular, we are raising funds for a new initiative to bring games and games writing courses to high school students in homeless shelters in New York City.”
“Harold and I are joining forces to create a fun, entertaining and informative podcast to benefit the mission of the nonprofit organization,” Fils-Aimé states. “Maybe I’ll be coaxed to share some of my untold tales from MTV Networks and Nintendo.”
The podcast will launch mid-May across Google, iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, “and elsewhere,” with a new podcast every week. Topics will include games, entertainment, education, and pop culture. Special guests will include top gaming executives, game developers, “stars from beyond the world of games,” high school student interns who benefited from the group’s efforts, and Geoff Keighly.
The “main podcast” with special guests will be free, while extras for donors include:
- “Opportunities to submit questions for Reggie.
- Bonus podcast content, including longer versions of interviews in the podcast and some audio that wasn’t available in the podcast that’s new.
- Access to an exclusive private auction with various video gaming memorabilia up for bidding from the vaults of NYVGCC members, such as a Nintendo Power magazine signed by Shigeru Miyamoto.
- The first chapter of Harold Goldberg’s novel (on audiobook) that is somewhat inspired by Rockstar Games’ L.A. Noire and Grand Theft Auto IV.”
The fundraiser aims to raise $15,000 USD. In addition to moving journalism courses online, the NYVGCC will make those courses free to educators across the US.
You can find the trailer for Talking Games With Reggie And Harold below.
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