A big thank you to all the guest speakers who participated in this summers virtual BYA. Thank you for all you have done, taught us and pushing forward with us during this pandemic. The following people worked with youth in the Games Design Group this summer.
Amir Khadar
Amir Khadar is Sierra Leonean-American multidisciplinary artist from Minneapolis, Minnesota whose main mediums are poetry, fibers, and digital art. For them, art is a space to rationalize their feelings as a marginalized individual, address oppression, and facilitate healing. Afro-futurism, beauty, liberation, and spirituality are cites for exploration within their work. Currently, Amir is freelancing, teaching, and working on personal projects.
Amir led workshops with both groups this summer on how to use programs and provide project feedback for Publications group. Amir also taught graphic design at BYA during our spring session.
Chris Leder
Chris Leder is a game designer, content creator, and overall familiar face in the gaming industry. His game designs include Roll For It!, Imagineers, and Back to the Future: Dice Through Time. Chris serves as the Director of Fun™ for tabletop game publisher Calliope Games. When not busy working, Chris has fun with his wife and three kids in a quaint town outside Chicago.
JT Smith
JT is the designer of The Captain is Dead and one of the owners of The Game Crafter. He is passionate about helping fledgling game designers make their dreams real and has been working toward that end for more than a decade.
Piero Macgowan
Piero Macgowan is a Mexican-born, Senior Concept Artist, Illustrator, and College Professor living in Baltimore, MD. He has worked at Firaxis Games since 2007, where he has contributed to several projects, including the XCOM and Civilization franchises. He also works in the film and animation industry as a Production Designer, providing visual development and narrative support. He obtained his B.F.A. in Illustration from the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Dr. Rachel Singer
Dr. Rachel Singer is a licensed psychologist who specializes in treating anxiety, depression, and trauma. She completed her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Boston College, and her postdoctoral fellowship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Singer also conducts asylum evaluations for refugees and engages in mental health outreach with immigrant communities in the DC and Baltimore regions.
Dr. Singer led two self-care workshops with youth and staff, teaching various practices that we can employ when dealing with stress and anxiety.
Photocredit: Schaun Champion
Joyell Arvella
Joyell Arvella (ella/she/elle) is an adjunct law professor, racial and gender justice strategist, and organizer by day. Creatively, she is a womanist writer and birth keeper who tethers her garden to her apothecary & dining table. She is a multicultural cis-woman, raced as Black, who grew up in the United States, Europe, and Egypt. Joyell's professional background consists of 13 years in education, womanism, international human rights law, race and equity, and transitional justice. She has worked with the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, United Nations Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Stanford University, government agencies, nonprofits, and tech companies to disrupt rape culture, terrorism, and state sanctioned violence against Black and Brown people. Additionally, Joyell serves as a board member for FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture in Baltimore, Maryland and Parity Baltimore Inc.
Joyell led a Black August Writing workshop with youth this summer where youth learned the history of Black August and followed writing prompts.