BUILDING THE FUTURE We have more from the pair of them across these pages, in order to understand the impact this scholarship has had on their lives. But to get the background story behind the scholarship, and how new perspectives from the likes of Gething and Arachchiae can help shape our industry, we spoke to Emma Smith, head of talent at Creative Assembly, and Siobhan Fenton, Associate Dean in the School of Computing, Media & the Arts at Teesside University. “Instead of just taking the money and going ‘Oh that’s


lovely! Thank you very much,” we wanted to invest it back so that the students benefited,” says Fenton. “We wanted to see how we can put that money directly back to the students.” The initiative grew out of Creative Assembly’s Legacy


Project, which aims to support higher education, particularly among minority students, and those who are disproportionately impacted by education barriers. “I’ve been leading [Creative Assembly’s] Legacy


Project since 2014,” says Smith. “It’s my brainchild, and what started it off was one bullet point: create a CSR scheme for the company. I didn’t want it to be something that was just a charity fundraiser, and not meaning anything about us as an industry. “Although we’re a relatively young industry, we’ve


impacted society in such a massive way. Games are a big part of so many people’s lives now, even from the memes we share or the art we have in our homes. It’s a part of the common vernacular for so many people of the younger generations. “That’s our legacy as an industry, but what’s our legacy


as a studio? At the time, there were lots of changes in and around education. There was a lot of outreach from parents, asking what kinds of careers their children can have. It also came from educators too, asking how we can weave industry and education together. They just felt like it was the right time to really try and join all those dots up. “Over the years I’ve been doing that, I’ve been


listening to the students to understand what the barriers are. It’s not intellect, and it’s not the drive to be there. It can be as simple as that they genuinely can’t afford to stay in education. And if we’re able to remove that barrier, then we’re opening up a whole new generation of different people in society that can come and create these games in the next 10 to 15 years. You know, I’m speaking to students who might go on to create phenomenal studios themselves. Feeling like we’ll be able to sit back on our laurels in a couple of decades, and be able to say ‘I feel amazing that


March 2022 MCV/DEVELOP | 41


I was able to play a part in that person’s success.’ And I think the ethos that we’ve got with Teesside, they’re really aligned to our values at CA. “This is a good thing to do, but it’s also the right thing


to do. It’s the best thing that we can possibly do for a lot of students. It was a real challenge at the start to try and work through the logistics of being able to deliver those funds, and to think about getting to the right students. It had to be authentic, we didn’t want it to be a knee-jerk reaction to the things that are going on in society. It’s something we wanted to do for a long time – to enable people to feel like education isn’t a struggle, that is a gift. It wasn’t an easy thing for us to do, and yet it was – because it was something that we all wanted and were passionate about.” We have more from the students about what this


scholarship means to them, but equally important is what opening our doors to new perspectives does for our industry as a whole. They may be just two students, but helping to bring less advantaged students into the industry can only help us all in the long run. “It’s about innovation, it’s about looking at things in


so many different ways,” says Smith. “I talk about this when speaking to hiring managers. 10 people can visit one restaurant in London, and you’ll have 10 different perspectives on a dish you were served. It’s the same when you think about new ways to develop games. Those lived experiences, where people come from, people with different backgrounds – they’re just going to provide so much more innovation into what we do. And I think that then will challenge those around them to up their game – a rising tide lifts all boats. When you have people that are passionate, enthusiastic, and have something new to bring, then it just breaks everything down and builds it back up again.”


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