Welcome to the MADE's initiatives page! This document will outline big, public-facing proposals related to the museum's work.
Inspire the next generation of digital creators through playable preservation.
We differentiate ourselves from other institutions in our belief that the playable experience of video games and other artifacts must be interactive to be fully understood. To that end, our organization actively explores the spectrum of playable preservation by using all available methods to create our exhibit experience.
The MADE is always looking for volunteers! From teaching our free game development classes, working on our website, maintaining our exhibits, and bringing the MADE's collection into the community, we've got so much for you to work on. If you're interested, jump over to our project board: Project Board Here!. You can also take a look at some of our key programs below; all of these need support, and we're happy to provide you with information you need to get started! All opportunities for these programs are listed in the project link above.
- MADE exhibit floor
- 5 days a week, Wednesday to Sunday
- MADE Restoration
- Ongoing weekly
- MADE Collection
- As necessary
- MADE Coworking
- Every Tuesday from noon until 4 pm
- Digital Creator Hack Night
- Every Wednesday from 6 pm to 8 pm
- MADE Tournaments
- Every other Tuesday
- MADE Forum
- Every month
- MADE Volunteer meeting
- Every Week
- First Friday Crawl at the MADE
- First Friday of every month
- MADE Workshop
- Upon lecturer request, review, and approval
- Field trips
- Upon request by schools
- MADE Classroom
- Saturday morning classes 9:30 to 11 am
- MADE Store
- 5 days a week, Wednesday to Sunday
To effectively distribute our work, our Board of Directors has four primary committees that work alongside a general operations committee. These committees are as follows: Museum, Community, Education, and Store.
- Museum: Maintain and catalog a collection used to produce educational and entertaining playable exhibits at a rapid pace.
- Community: Encourage the gathering of individuals interested in digital expression to learn from one another and create a safe, welcoming space.
- Education: Educate the next generation of digital creators through the critical analysis and creation of digital entertainment media.
- Store: Provide a vehicle for individuals to support the museum’s services while capturing their costs and impact.
Many boards approach capacity building by funding a large budget at first. Historically, the museum isn't good at this but, rather, producing value for individuals within community and using that budget to fund the operations of the museum. The museum attracts builders, designers, and people who build and ship real world products.
While this is a weakness, it is also an incredible strength. If we focus, we can build upon our track record of delivering to improve upon the quality of our work and grow budget through the systematic improvement of process. And finally, as a non-profit in the technology space with the ability to draw this talent, we demonstrate the exceptional capacity to innovate to scale.
These board initiatives reflect this approach. Instead of attempting to address all of the different product SKUs and/or focus on big fundraising events, we are going to put our heads down and focus on two goals that will allow us to plan and deploy increasingly engaging events through visual communication, improvement of process, and transparency of costs and impact.
Are you a professional working in education, the digital entertainment industry, or a leader in your field of work/study and want to be a part of this? Reach out to info@themade.org for more information. While we don't ask for board membership fees, we are a working board. We will expect a number of hours from you every week and regular attendance at committee meetings, but you will have the chance to meet other seasoned professionals, learn something from them, and be able to point at a physical location and numbers that demonstrate your ability to make real world impact.
Over the past 3 years, spatial visualization, when used, has been the novel mechanism allowing the MADE to communicate and collaborate effectively. It has allowed the museum to reach the final stages of a corporate sponsorship, helped create common understanding between event planners and the museum, sped up exhibit design, demonstrated organizational competence to architects, and determined optimal shelving configurations in the face of building obstructions.
The eventual goal will be to integrate this spatial workflow into as many components of the museum as possible. It will use this system to build exhibits, to educate, to plan, and much more. Most importantly, it will serve as a powerful symbol for how digital creation can build community.
In order to streamline volunteer engagement, individuals within the community must be provided a mechanism through which they can communicate resources needed from the museum, align their goals with the MADE’s, and demonstrate feasibility. The final formal approval process will require completion of a submission form, visuals and/or 3d mockups for space layout or exhibit submissions, and passage through a voting process outlined by volunteers and/or the board.
Depending on committee membership, you may instead be tasked with supporting the system development and evaluation of key museum programs. The key programs can be found below. These items should be considered as products of the museum, and all products need constant attention to be maintained and relevant.