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The British Council have appointed their first programme manager for games & interactive with Paul Callaghan, who will be taking the post on the 16th January 2017.
Callaghan, who is currently a game design and development lecturer at the University of East London but has been working in games since 1998 as a programmer, designer, writer, teacher and creative producer. He also directed Melbourne’s Freeplay Independant Games Festival, sat on the advisory board for the BFI’s Future Film festival, and worked as an advisor for Now Play This, a games event held in the capital.
In his new role, he’ll be responsible for developing new connections in the games and interactive media sphere, focussing initially on connections in Europe, America and Asia, working with the British Council’s teams and partners around the world.
The British Council has recruited a programme manager for Games & Interactive as part of their expanded cultural mission to include new and diverse media, and the appointment is intended to ensure the British Council is a participant in the games industry and other diverse art sectors moving forwards, in addition to ensuring it acts as an ambassador for British games around the globe.
Briony Hanson, British Council Director of Film, and Beatrice Pembroke, Director of Creative Economy, said in a joint statement on the Council’s website: “We are excited by the blurring of boundaries between traditional art forms and the possibilities that new media will continue to make in UK art and culture in the future. Paul’s appointment will breathe life into both the Creative Economy and the Film programme, positioning games and interactive media in the space between art and commerce, finding international opportunities for the creative games and interactive sectors in the UK, and encouraging play and collaboration globally”.
Also in the statement, Callaghan said: “I’m delighted to be taking up this exciting new role with the British Council, and am very much looking forward to working alongside the diverse talent working in games and interactive media in Britain, and in cultivating creative, cultural, and economic opportunities both here and internationally.”
