About DMG

History

DMG grew out of grassroots community support and in response to a demonstrated need for more inclusive access to independent videogame arts and culture by providing community space and resources to artists working in the medium.

DMG was first conceptualized in 2011 after participants in a one-off women-in-games program (The Difference Engine Initiative) decided they wanted to form an ongoing collective. We were incorporated as a not-for-profit by the founding board of directors (Jennie Faber, Cecily Carver, and Alex Leitch) in 2012. Today, DMG has grown into an active organization with seasonal programming and exhibitions, supporting its 550+ Toronto members and the broader game arts and culture community.

DMG has presented over 250 artist talks, hosted 4 residency programs, presented over 500 professional and artistic development workshops, participated in scholarly collaborations (OCAD, York University), exhibited member work locally and internationally (Different Games, Indiecade at the Museum of the Moving Image NYC), curated local (AGO First Thursdays, Long Winter) and international (Brandeis University, Boston Festival of Independent Games) shows, developed open-source technical tools and platforms (iV Engine, Soba, CODEX, Community Development Toolkit), and coordinated youth arts mentorship programs (the TAC and Canada Council-funded Indigicade in collaboration with Indigenous Routes).

Mission

DMG is a not-for-profit video game arts organization that supports people historically excluded from or pushed out of tech and game spaces – especially gender-marginalized and racialized people – to make, play and critique video games within a cultural context.

We teach computing skills for artistic expression, offer production and exhibition facilities, and provide community support for the creation of new artworks.

Our space and community is a platform and playground for artists working in games, engaging the public with the expressive potential of this medium.

Vision

DMG is building a future where everyone can express themselves freely through games, where play contributes to a more just and equitable world.

Grounded in the heart of Toronto’s West Queen West neighbourhood, DMG is creating an accessible, diverse and collaborative space where anyone can engage meaningfully with computer games, digital art and immersive media art. DMG integrates creation, production, presentation, education and critical practices with a focus on community building and inclusivity.

With year-round arts and cultural programming, an equipment library, dedicated public gallery, coworking and social areas, we provide our members and the broader game arts community the tools, space and freedom to play.

Our vision and programming is open and adaptive, responding to the needs and wants of our membership.

Milieu

DMG addresses all three streams of media art practice: Production, exhibition and distribution. Our members create and display their artworks using time-based technologies including computer and analog games, sound/audio, video, robotics and electronics, immersive and interactive, Web-based, electronics, radio and sound.
Our sector is extremely well developed in Toronto, with over 40 organizations serving and supporting a broad community of media art makers.

Values

We value diversity and strive to a deep understanding of barriers to inclusion
We recognize and honour our visible and invisible differences
We value the labor that goes into defending and building equitable experiences
We value healing and restoration
We value friendship and trusting relationships
We value humility, openness and generosity

Beliefs & Commitments

We are committed to the ongoing work of anti-oppression and anti-racism.
We believe game-making can be an act of resistance, giving creators ultimate agency in the expression of their identities, politics, selves, genders and sexualities. Our work has the power to transform our communities, and positively impact policies and practice.
We believe that creating space and time to make and talk about games in an explicitly feminist context elevates the craft, amplifies alternative and diverse narratives, and supports the socio-cultural changes that are necessary to make game design accessible to all.
We are interested in creating alternative forms of economic power grounded in solidarity, openness and collective values.
We are committed to developing, contributing to, experimenting with, promoting and sharing knowledge about free and open source tools and platforms.
We recognize this is ongoing work, that we make mistakes, and we must always push forward
We make, play and talk about games because they give us more power to shape the future.