VGA and Bit Bash Join Forces!
Since VGA Gallery was founded in 2013, we’ve worked to fulfill our mission of increasing the cultural appreciation and education of video games and new media by curating exhibitions, developing educational programs, and working with artists to develop and sell prints of their work. Over the past year, we’ve worked to expand online, developing programs such as the VGA Zine, our monthly publication of hot and cold refreshing takes about video games, and VGA Fireside, our monthly show streaming on Twitch where we talk to video game creators about their art, their influences, and the industry. And today, we’re happy to announce the next addition to VGA Gallery’s programs!
We have been collaborating with Bit Bash Chicago since their very first festival back in 2014, and with that partnership we have been able to exhibit our collection at their events, manage their print competitions, curate exhibitions of digital art, and highlight our developed work such as the exhibition of Frame Switch in 2019. Today, we’re thrilled to announce we are taking that partnership even further, as VGA Gallery is now the fiscal sponsor of Bit Bash Chicago.
With Bit Bash as one of the gallery’s programs, we will be able to continue our mission to grow the discipline of video game art in new ways. We will continue to provide physical exhibitions of video games and new media, and highlight Chicago as a global destination for both digital artists and supporters of the medium. And with our support, Bit Bash will be able to keep putting on the fantastic festivals and pop-up events this city loves and deserves. Additionally, with our combined resources, we’re excited to work on new ideas and projects that can help serve our mutual goals and deliver the same creativity, experimentation, and cultural significance as both of our previous endeavors have sought to provide.
It has been a long, tough year for many nonprofit organizations, and we’d like to thank everybody on the VGA Gallery board and staff for putting in the time to help facilitate this new partnership, as well as everybody over at the Bit Bash Chicago Committee for their enthusiasm, patience, and commitment to create such an amazing collaboration that can only benefit both organizations for years to come. Our teams have already begun to discuss ideas of what we can do together, and can’t wait to bring them to you all. For years VGA and Bit Bash have shared a common purpose and a mutual passion for supporting the Chicago video game community and beyond, and we are thrilled to finally be official partners in that goal. We’ll see you soon!