Urban Arts

Urban Arts We teach digital game design 👾 as a pathway to college 🎓 and career 📎. Because a quality education shouldn’t depend on a child’s zip code.

We design and implement educational programs rooted in the arts and technology for underrepresented students. We teach underrepresented students the art and technology of game development through computer science, coding, animation, music, and storytelling. We provide private-school level college-access services and ensure our students earn the maximum in scholarships. We connect our alumni to men

torship and internship opportunities at leading media and technology companies, generating a new and diverse talent pipeline.

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game...
06/06/2026

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game Academy in one high-energy ⚡️ afternoon.

After a FULL YEAR OF EFFORT 🦾, students demo their video games they designed and produced with original art, sound design, narrative, and mechanics. They pitch them to friends, family, and industry professionals, practicing entrepreneurship, growing creative confidence, and incorporating feedback.

Meet Jessica Ochoa Hendrix , a mentor on our Industry Panel, who offers access and exposure to the world of work. Jessica is the and of Killer Snails, where she creates games and immersive XR experiences that inspire a love of science. With 16 award-winning game titles, a TED Talk, and an XR patent, Jessica knows what it takes to build games that go beyond entertainment and what game design can do when it's built with purpose. Welcome and thank you 💐!

The Arcade is the culminating showcase of Urban Arts' game development program, a multi-year pathway that takes students from introductory game design all the way through Capstone Studio, in which teams produce complete games under conditions that mirror a real development studio.

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game...
06/06/2026

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game Academy in one high-energy ⚡️ afternoon.

After a FULL YEAR OF EFFORT 🦾, students demo their video games they designed and produced with original art, sound design, narrative, and mechanics. They pitch them to friends, family, and industry professionals, practicing entrepreneurship, growing creative confidence, and incorporating feedback.

Meet Ben Heid, a mentor on our Industry Panel, who offers access and exposure to the world of work. Ben is a games producer and designer who started their career at USC's Interactive Entertainment games program acting as and on multiple independent projects before interning at and later Producing at Entertainment. They are known for their work as an Associate Producer on 2 at Obsidian and as Creative Director on at Tiny Fury Games. Their approach to creative production is centered around clarity and camaraderie; ensuring that every person on a team knows what they need to do while being able to voice what they want to do. They strive to find the balance between production limits and creative freedom in order to create the best experience for players and the best production environment for developers. Welcome and thank you 💐!

The Arcade is the culminating showcase of Urban Arts' game development program, a multi-year pathway that takes students from introductory game design all the way through Capstone Studio, in which teams produce complete games under conditions that mirror a real development studio.

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game...
06/06/2026

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game Academy in one high-energy ⚡️ afternoon.

After a FULL YEAR OF EFFORT 🦾, students demo their video games they designed and produced with original art, sound design, narrative, and mechanics. They pitch them to friends, family, and industry professionals, practicing entrepreneurship, growing creative confidence, and incorporating feedback.

Meet Elaine Goméz, a mentor on our Industry Panel, who offers access and exposure to the world of work. is a Puerto Rican 🇵🇷 and Dominican 🇩🇴 game designer with nearly a decade of experience in game design and development. She is an enrolled tribal member of Taino of the Caribbean. In January 2023, she founded independent game studio, Midnight Hour Games, and went on to develop and direct the award-winning mobile game, , in collaboration with the American Optometric Association. The studio is currently developing its second fully-funded title. Elaine is also co-founder and President of Latinx in Gaming, an award-winning non-profit organization dedicated to increasing representation, building community and providing resources to Latin American game developers, creators and students across the US, Latin America and the Caribbean. Welcome and thank you 💐!

The Arcade is the culminating showcase of Urban Arts' game development program, a multi-year pathway that takes students from introductory game design all the way through Capstone Studio, in which teams produce complete games under conditions that mirror a real development studio.

Latinx in Gaming

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game...
06/06/2026

Today's the day! ARCADE 2026! 🎊 Every year, Urban Arts celebrates the promising young creative technologists of the Game Academy in one high-energy ⚡️ afternoon.

After a FULL YEAR OF EFFORT 🦾, students demo their video games they designed and produced with original art, sound design, narrative, and mechanics. They pitch them to friends, family, and industry professionals, practicing entrepreneurship, growing creative confidence, and incorporating feedback.

Meet Albert Dankwa, a mentor on our Industry Panel, who offers access and exposure to the world of work. Albert is a Market Consultant working as the connective tissue between partner companies and consumers in the tech space. He was previously a Content Program Manager at Xbox where he created informative, educational, and accessible content for fans around the world through text and voice over scriptwriting, user interface screen capture storyboarding, video production, and copywriting for social platforms. Albert has volunteered at Urban Arts before! Welcome back and thank you 💐!

The Arcade is the culminating showcase of Urban Arts' game development program, a multi-year pathway that takes students from introductory game design all the way through Capstone Studio, in which teams produce complete games under conditions that mirror a real development studio.

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers! We create STEM pathw...
06/05/2026

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers!

We create STEM pathways to college and career thru video game design 👾! The Urban Arts Game Academy is FREE to every accepted student.

Check out our programs here urbanarts.org including

Fordham University Purdue University

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers!Best advice for going...
06/04/2026

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers!

Best advice for going off to college? Share it! 🗣️

Know a high schooler who could use free college guidance? Our Game Academy offers STEM pathways to college and career. Check out our free programs urbanarts.org

Brooklyn Paper

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers! Best advice for goin...
06/04/2026

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers!

Best advice for going off to college? Share it! 🗣️

Know a high schooler who could use college guidance? Check out our free program urbanarts.org/college-access/

New York City Public Schools NYC Department of Youth and Community Development Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani Computer Science Teachers Association

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers! Best advice for goin...
06/02/2026

The Urban Arts Class of 2026 earned $25M in scholarships this year. Meet some of our game changers!

Best advice for going off to college? Share it! 🗣️

Check out our program here urbanarts.org/college-access/

QuestBridge New York City Public Schools NYC Department of Youth and Community Development NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment Department of Education

06/01/2026

🥁🥁🥁 The numbers are in and they are mind-blowing 🤯! The Urban Arts Class of 2026 🎓 has earned $25M in scholarships for 2026, enrolling at colleges and universities across the country. This is what joy 🎉 looks like on a spreadsheet. For students from low-income communities where a school college counselor is a luxury, not a given, Urban Arts offers free, robust College Access with:

• one-on-one counseling,
• essay and recommendation coaching,
• application and financial aid support,
• field trips to campuses and exclusive, in-house college fairs,
• workshops with corporate partners,
• and near-peer mentorship through the Urban Arts College Fellows program.

The research is clear: a college degree changes the economic trajectory of a life and a community. Since 2020, Urban Arts seniors have earned over $71M in scholarships, nearer to our $100M by 2030 goal.

We're gonna need a bigger goal!

Unity National Association for College Admission Counseling

05/24/2026

Hey Mayor Mamdani! A team of dedicated NYC high school seniors are committed to your presence at the Urban Arts annual Arcade Saturday, June 6th. They're creative technologists, next up to power the city with fresh talent 😉!

⭐️ DO YOU KNOW ? ⭐️ Get these students in front of him!

Urban Arts is the nonprofit that teaches video game design as a pathway to college and career, offering free instruction for students to open doors in STEM and the arts. We provide free, robust college-access services, garnering 100% college acceptance and over $46 million in scholarships for students from low-income communities. All of our programs are completely free.

From Urban Arts Students: Dear Mayor Mamdani,

We're students at Urban Arts who come from diverse backgrounds and communities to create games together. We’ve scripted, planned, and shot videos to (in)formally invite you to our Arcade event! tiktok.com/

“What exactly is Arcade?” Our annual Arcade showcases the games we’ve made over a school year’s worth of hard work. We celebrate creativity, innovation, and future talent—and it’s just such a blast for all of us. So we would absolutely love for you to come and see what we've built! (And perhaps partake in the fun if you can.)

Thank you so much for your time and consideration. We hope to see you at Arcade. Come play the games!
Urban Arts Students!

Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani NYC Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment

Address

39 West 19th Street
New York, NY
10011

Telephone

(212) 966-5881

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