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Comcast Continues to Champion Latinas in Tech and Their Mission to Lead with Purpose

Comcast California

Comcast’s long-time partner Latinas in Tech (LiT), a non-profit organization with the mission to connect, support and empower Latina women working in the technology industry, is celebrating its sixth annual summit connecting Latinas from 758 technology companies from around the world. This year's theme is Leading with Purpose and the event will reunite, virtually, more than 2,000 Latina technologists, business leaders, philanthropists, investors, developers, innovators, designers, and content creators from May 18th to 20th. Since 2017, Comcast has supported Latinas in Tech with more than $400,000 in grants and has been the summit's presenting sponsor since its inception six years ago. In addition to giving monetary grants, Comcast was instrumental in creating the Career Hub and a suite of professional development trainings that will be launched in September 2022. "Hundreds of companies now publish job openings at Latinas in Tech's career board as they benefit from a highly skilled pool of Latina talent,” said Rocio van Nierop, Co-Founder and CEO, Latinas in Tech. “At the same time, we want to make sure that we have a solid and growing pipeline. With Comcast's help, this Fall we will launch a suite of professional development trainings that will be available to Latinas from anywhere in the world at no cost. These resources will help lift up our community and give Latinas the access and representation they deserve within the Tech Industry." Over the years, Comcast’s ongoing commitment to and investments in Latinas in Tech have helped the organization: Build a robust online Career Hub that serves as an exclusive recruitment tool between partner technology companies and LiT members; Develop mentoring programs to foster the advancement of Latinas in technology careers; Provide hands-on leadership workshops and online professional development opportunities; and Host monthly networking Meetups “Comcast was one of the first companies to commit to supporting Latinas in Tech and our existence and expansion would not have been possible without Comcast's support,” said van Nierop. “While most companies write checks to meet their corporate social responsibility program benchmarks, Comcast has proved time after time that they are a deeply engaged partner and highly involved advocate for increasing Latina representation in the Tech industry.” “Latinas in Tech’s mission aligns perfectly with Comcast’s commitment to investing our resources in ways that help communities realize the transformative potential of media and technology to solve problems, improve lives and create opportunity,” said Lorena Hernandez, Community Impact Director for Comcast in California. “Comcast is proud to partner with and invest in Latinas in Tech for their ongoing strategic focus on empowering and educating Latinas. We believe this investment will help create a more diverse, equitable and inclusive workforce in the technology industry.” The Latinas in Tech 3-day online conference will feature multiple workshops, including a special track designed for senior employees looking to grow into Executive Director positions, ERG leaders, and members striving to drive their ERG towards excellence. This year's themes are Why Representation Matters: Becoming an Advocate For Latinx Talent In Tech; Your Path To Corporate Boards, and Empowering Internally: The Importance Of Recruiting, Advocating and Mentoring Amongst Latinx Employees. Latinas in Tech will be donating 50% of all 2022 Summit ticket sales to aid the Ukrainian people. For more information about Latinas in Tech Summit 2022, please visit: https://latinasintechsummit.org/press About Latinas in Tech Summit Since 2017, Latinas in Tech has hosted an annual conference to bring together influential Latinas working in technology. At the Latinas in Tech Summit, you’ll join over 3,000 Latina techies and tap into the most powerful network for landing tech jobs and growing your tech career. For more information, visit https://latinasintechsummit.org/ About Latinas in Tech Latinas in Tech is a non-profit with humble origins. What started as two friends in need of career support is now a global community of almost 20,000 Latinx women. Our group began in Silicon Valley in 2014 and has since expanded to 20 additional cities with a local footprint around the world. Our mission is ambitious, just like our members: we seek to reshape the tech industry so that Latinx women are not only well-represented but also thriving in the ecosystem. For more information, please visit www.latinasintech.org About Comcast Corporation Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA) is a global media and technology company that connects people to moments that matter. We are principally focused on connectivity, aggregation, and streaming with 57 million customer relationships across the United States and Europe. We deliver broadband, wireless, and video through our Xfinity, Comcast Business, and Sky brands; create, distribute, and stream leading entertainment, sports, and news through Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, Universal Studio Group, Sky Studios, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, multiple cable networks, Peacock, NBCUniversal News Group, NBC Sports, Sky News, and Sky Sports; and provide memorable experiences at Universal Parks and Resorts in the United States and Asia. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information. Contact Details Adriana Arvizo +1 925-200-1919 Adriana_Arvizo@comcast.com Latinas in Tech Ana Bretschneider press@latinasintech.org

May 11, 2022 09:15 AM Pacific Daylight Time

Lightly secures $3m seed round to clean up data for machine learning

Lightly

Machine learning is like software that is updated with data instead of code. Tech startup Lightly has taken on the mission to drive quality data into machine learning models to generate better outcomes. Lightly’s data curation tool enables machine learning teams to save time and money on data selection and labelling, whilst at the same time improving the performance of models. Matthias Heller, co-founder of Lightly commented: “Most companies that use AI need to label data. But, the amount of data produced in a single day cannot be labelled in a million years. That's why it is so important to wisely choose what data to label and put into a machine learning model. That's where Lightly steps in. We deploy self-learning algorithms that tell data teams which 1% of their data is the most valuable. With our approach, companies see their labelling costs decrease by up to 90%, while their AI model can improve by 20%.” Lightly was founded in 2020 by co-founders Matthias Heller and Igor Susmelj, former ETH and Harvard students, who worked in autonomous driving and research on computer vision and deep learning. They witnessed firsthand how many engineers' efforts are excessively directed into manually cleaning datasets or how data quality is disregarded and the model becomes the main focus. The Swiss startup has taken an unprecedented approach to solving this data challenge. Their open-source framework with over 2k stars on GitHub has caught the attention of many industry leaders, such as Facebook’s Head of AI, Jerome Pesenti, who tweeted about it. Lightly is a significant tool for a variety of reasons. It tackles the challenge of biased data, attempting to make AI more ethical, for instance. Additionally, it powers machine learning models with recent data ensuring they remain relevant. Lightly manages such data changes by intelligently adding novel data to datasets, also referred to as data drift management. As machine learning becomes prominent in an increasing amount of industries, its use must scale accordingly. Pioneering in the field by automating data pipelines, Lightly makes data management easy by integrating other data preparation tools and offering a centralized platform. This supports the trend towards data-centric AI, a concept elaborated by Andrew Ng. In Andrew’s words: “Data is food for AI”. Today, Lightly is used by Fortune 500 companies and startups in autonomous driving, robotics, and video analytics. It plans to increase headcount and expand to the US. About Lightly Lightly was founded in Zurich, Switzerland by Matthias Heller and Igor Susmelj, former ETH and Harvard students who worked in autonomous driving and research on computer vision and deep learning. Lightly helps companies to build better machine learning models faster through better data. Data to train machine learning models is currently the biggest bottleneck in AI development. Today, Lightly is used by Fortune 500 companies and startups in autonomous driving, robotics, and video analytics. For more information, please visit https://www.lightly.ai/ Contact Details Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.lightly.ai/

May 11, 2022 11:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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OPPO Find X5 Pro Will Be Among the First to Receive the Android 13 Beta 1 Update

OPPO

SHENZHEN, CHINA - Media OutReach - 11 May 2022 - OPPO today announced that its flagship Find X5 Pro will become one of the first devices to receive the new Google Android 13 Beta 1 update. Meanwhile, OPPO is going to provide a ColorOS developer preview based on Android 13 Beta 1 for developers to elaborate the new features and changes. “OPPO has been cooperating closely with Google for a long time, during which we’ve kept working together to deliver the best possible operating experience through our ColorOS which is based on each version of Google’s Android operating systems,” said Andy Wu, OPPO Vice President and President of Find Product Line. “This time, with the new Android 13, we believe that the performance of our excellent devices, such as the flagship Find X5 Pro, will be fully unleashed to developers and users.” Android 13 focuses more on privacy and security, while providing new APIs to help developers build better apps. It offers a series of updates, including privacy features like the new notification permission photo picker, APIs like themed app icons, quick settings tile placement, and per-app language support, as well as capabilities like Bluetooth LE audio and MIDI 2.0 over USB. Beta 1 adds new permissions for more granular access to media files, improved audio routing APIs, and more. Android 13 Beta 1 will be available for Find X5 Pro, which is OPPO’s latest flagship smartphone released in February 2022. Find X5 Pro comes with OPPO’s first dedicated imaging Neural Processing Unit MariSilicon X and the dual flagship IMX766 camera system, hence, it offers an unparalleled imaging experience. With its unrivalled performance, ultra-fast 5G connectivity, and the incredible 80W SUPERVOOC TM Flash Charging technology, Find X5 Pro is designed to bring an all-round flagship-level performance to users around the world. Developers can download and try out the developer’s version of ColorOS built around Android 13 Beta 1 here. In addition, Find X5 Pro users are also expected to be the first to enjoy the new public version of ColorOS based on Android 13 in the near future. About OPPO Since the launch of its first mobile phone - “Smiley Face” - in 2008, OPPO has been in relentless pursuit of the perfect synergy of aesthetic satisfaction and innovative technology. Today, OPPO provides a wide range of smart devices spearheaded by the Find and Reno series. Beyond devices, OPPO provides its users with the ColorOS operating system and internet services like OPPO Cloud and OPPO+. OPPO operates in more than 50 countries and regions with more than 40,000 of OPPO's employees are dedicated to creating a better life for customers around the world. Contact Details Media Contact press@oppo.com Company Website http://www.oppo.com/en/

May 11, 2022 08:39 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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CSG to Present at J.P. Morgan’s 50th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference

CSG

DENVER, May 11, 2022 – CSG ® (NASDAQ: CSGS) today announced that the company will present at the J.P. Morgan’s 50th Annual Global Technology, Media and Communications Conference on Tuesday, May 24, 2022. The presentation will be held at 2:10pm EST and will feature comments from CSG chief executive officer Brian Shepherd. The conference presentation will be available via webcast here. About CSG CSG is a leader in innovative customer engagement, revenue management and payments solutions that make ordinary customer experiences extraordinary. Our cloud-first architecture and customer-obsessed mindset help companies around the world launch new digital services, expand into new markets, and create dynamic experiences that capture new customers and build brand loyalty. For 40 years, CSG’s technologies and people have helped some of the world’s most recognizable brands solve their toughest business challenges and evolve to meet the demands of today’s digital economy with future-ready solutions that drive exceptional customer experiences. With 5,000 employees in over 20 countries, CSG is the trusted technology provider for leading global brands in telecommunications, retail, financial services, and healthcare. Our solutions deliver real world outcomes to more than 900 customers in over 120 countries. To learn more, visit us at csgi.com and connect with us on LinkedIn and Twitter. Copyright © 2022 CSG Systems International, Inc. and/or its affiliates (“CSG”). All rights reserved. CSG® is a registered trademark of CSG Systems International, Inc. All third-party trademarks, service marks, and/or product names which are referenced in this document are the property of their respective owners, and all rights therein are reserved. Contacts: John Rea Investor Relations +1 (210) 687-4409 john.rea@csgi.com Contact Details Tammy Hovey +1 917-520-2751 tammy.hovey@csgi.com Company Website https://www.csgi.com

May 11, 2022 06:30 AM Mountain Daylight Time

Comodo Partners with IT Service Provider Paradigm Technology Group to Offer Endpoint Protection to More Than 650 Global Enterprises

Comodo

Comodo Security Solutions, a leading provider of endpoint protection, today announced that they have partnered with Paradigm Technology Group to provide its customers with advanced protection against increasing ransomware and malware threats. It comes at a particularly critical time as approximately 300,000 new ransomware variants are released daily, particularly targeting Paradigm Technology Group’s customer base in the financial, manufacturing, and medical industries. Comodo’s Advanced Endpoint Protection (AEP) is the only solution on the market that prevents 100% of ransomware and other malware before any damage is done. Because endpoints are the entry point for virtually all malware attacks, Comodo AEP utilizes a patented virtual isolation capability which isolates unknown files and code in a protective container until it is determined to be 100% safe. “Comodo’s auto-containment will keep our customer’s infrastructure safe and malware free,” said Michael Hochberg, Co-founder and Managing Partner of Paradigm Technology Group. “We’re confident that this partnership will defeat all zero-day attacks with no impact to our end user's experience.” “We’re proud to partner with an IT service provider that supports more than one million endpoints today with more than 650 global small to medium enterprise customers,” said Rich Scott, Chief Revenue Officer at Comodo. “This will significantly improve the threat landscape for these companies. While other cybersecurity solutions detect and report on threats, Comodo AEP prevents and protects against threats from ever occurring. We are the only endpoint security solution that applies the zero-trust principle of never trust, always verify.” For more information, visit www.comodo.com or www.paradigmtg.com. About Comodo Headquartered in Bloomfield, NJ, Comodo’s mission is to help customers avoid breaches with groundbreaking isolation technology that fully neutralizes ransomware, zero-day malware, and cyber-attacks that other security providers can’t do. We deliver active breach prevention with patented auto containment technology. Our Unified Endpoint integrates this technology with critical components like our highly rated advanced endpoint protection, endpoint detection and response, and endpoint management to offer a single cloud-accessible Active Breach Protection solution. Comodo’s SOC-as-a-Service team makes the solution a frictionless, high-security implementation. For more information, visit https://www.comodo.com/. About Paradigm Technology Group Based in the western suburbs of Chicago, Paradigm Technology Group provides organizations with a dependable resource of highly skilled technology professionals. With more than 60 years of combined experience in voice, data and electrical technologies, Paradigm is focused on providing quality client service that will build business relationships that last a lifetime. Paradigm provides technology and business solutions that assist in our clients day to day, short term and long term needs in Managed Services / Managed IT, Voice and Data Solutions, and Cloud. The company serves customers internationally across every vertical, with a large practice in the Healthcare, Financial, and GovEd market space. Contact Details Comodo Ashley Pontius +1 813-409-4091 ashley@ashleypontiuspr.com Company Website http://www.comodo.com

May 11, 2022 08:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time

City Produce Joins FreshEdge

FreshEdge

INDIANAPOLIS – FreshEdge, a family of produce and specialty food companies backed by Rotunda Capital Partners, acquired City Produce, a fresh food distributor headquartered in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. For many years, City Produce has been serving North Central Florida, the Florida Panhandle, and central to southern Alabama distributing fresh fruits and vegetables, including an array of fresh-cut offerings, dairy, meats, seafoods, specialty foods, and more. City Produce operates out of two facilities, one in Fort Walton Beach, and a second in Foley, Alabama. The addition expands FreshEdge’s footprint into the southern United States and provides space and logistical support to better serve its customer base as it spreads farther south. City Produce joins Piazza Produce & Specialty Foods, Indianapolis Fruit, Get Fresh Produce, McCartney Produce, Monteverde’s, Valley Produce, Vine Line, Garden Cut, CIBUS Fresh and Papania’s. FreshEdge now operates with more than 2,000 employees, approximately 808,500 square feet of warehouse space, and a fleet of more than 720 trucks. “We welcome Tommy Sundy and his amazing team to the FreshEdge family of companies,” said Steve Grinstead, CEO of FreshEdge. “We are excited for this great company to join FreshEdge as we expand farther into the Southeast.” Terms of the deal, which closed on May 10, 2022, were not disclosed. The transaction strengthens the combined business’s presence in Florida and southern Alabama. “City Produce will be a great addition to our expanding group of ‘best in class’ fresh food distribution companies,” said Greg Corsaro, president and COO of FreshEdge. “We look forward to Tommy’s continued leadership at City Produce.” “Our City Produce team is excited to join the FreshEdge family - knowing we’ll be ‘better together’,” said Tommy Sundy, president. “This is the next step in increasing our footprint, serving customers with expanded offerings and growing for our future.” FreshEdge is backed by Rotunda Capital Partners, a lower middle market private equity firm focused on investments in founder and family held companies. Rotunda seeks to provide opportunities for management teams to reach strategic, financial, and operational objectives. Rotunda entered the food business in 2017 with the acquisition of Indianapolis Fruit and Piazza Produce. FreshEdge was created in 2019 when Get Fresh Produce joined the platform. City Produce represents FreshEdge’s seventh acquisition since Rotunda’s initial investment. Together, Rotunda and FreshEdge intend to continue expanding FreshEdge by welcoming more companies into the group—all focused on high quality produce and specialty food products, along with exceptional service—to create a unique group of complementary entities. About FreshEdge FreshEdge was formed in 2019 through the combination of Get Fresh Produce (founded 1982) and the IF&P Foods family of companies, primarily composed of Indianapolis Fruit (founded 1947) and Piazza Produce (founded 1970). McCartney Produce (Paris, TN) joined the FreshEdge family in November 2020 followed by Valley Produce (Knoxville, TN) in June 2021, Vine Line (Grand Rapids, MI) in October 2021, and Monteverde's (Pittsburgh, PA) in November 2021. Collectively, these leading fresh food distribution companies have nearly 500 years of combined experience serving the grocery and food service industries. FreshEdge includes two Garden Cut branded fresh-cut processing facilities, a tomato re-packer, a USDA fresh kitchen (CIBUS Fresh), and two transportation companies. FreshEdge's fleet resource includes more than 720 trucks servicing the Midwest and beyond from 12 facilities totaling approximately 808,500 square feet of warehouse space. Today, FreshEdge is one of the largest independent fresh food distributors in the United States and a category leader in providing both the foodservice and retail industries with fruit, vegetables, proteins, fresh grab-n-go offerings, dairy, floral, and specialty products. For more information, visit www.freshedgefoods.com. About Rotunda Capital Partners Rotunda Capital Partners is an operationally oriented private equity firm focused on transforming family-founder owned companies into dynamic, data-driven platforms able to achieve and manage significant growth. Since its founding in 2009, Rotunda has partnered with management teams to build great businesses within three primary sectors: value-added distribution, asset-light logistics and industrial & business services. Rotunda strives to achieve replicable results by implementing its Rotunda Performance System to create strategic alignment, develop lean processes and create robust, data-driven infrastructures. For more information, visit www.rotundacapital.com. Contact Details FreshEdge Greg Corsaro +1 317-981-3440 gcorsaro@freshedgefoods.com Rotunda Capital Partners Jill Lafferty +1 847-280-1295 jill@rotundacapital.com Company Website https://www.freshedgefoods.com/

May 11, 2022 07:43 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Bacula Systems Announces Availability of its Nutanix AHV Backup and Recovery Module

Bacula Systems

Accelerating its leadership in high performance backup and recovery for large enterprises and managed services providers, Bacula Systems today announced its Nutanix AHV module for Bacula Enterprise, which expands its rich feature-set across a broad number of different hypervisors. Bacula Enterprise natively integrates with VMware, Hyper-V, Xen, KVM, RHV, Proxmox and now Nutanix installations of any size, allowing IT departments to perform backup and recovery operations from one platform. Some of the benefits of Bacula Enterprise’s Nutanix module include: Agentless deployment Snapshot-based backup/restore Support for any kind of guest VM Hot copy: Online VMs supported (no need to shutdown) Full, Incremental and Differential levels Fast block level image backup through NDFS Restore complete VM images Restore network interfaces Remote interactive snapshot deletion tool included Bacula Enterprise also provides a Nutanix filer module with HFC technology. “The unique ability of Bacula to cover so many different databases and virtual machines in today and tomorrow’s IT departments becomes of especially high value when combined with Bacula’s remarkably strong security architecture and its tools for protection against ransomware” said Jorge Gea, CTO, Bacula Systems. “For organizations working to meet the compliance and governance challenges of tomorrow, security needs to come first and this is the advantage that Bacula brings” said Gea. “Bacula Enterprise is one of the very few scalable, Cloud and Edge-agnostic backup solutions in the industry that can also back up Docker, Kubernetes and OpenShift environments, including their persistent data. This combined with its security features, open source base and advantageous licensing model means it is increasingly being adopted by large military, government, MSPs, ISVs, HPC and other security and performance-demanding organizations” said Frank Barker, CEO of Bacula Systems. Bacula Systems customers include NASA, Texas A&M University, Swisscom, Sky and many more. About Bacula Systems: Bacula Enterprise Edition is a highly scalable, especially secure backup and recovery software for large organizations, data centers and MSPs. www.baculasystems.com Contact Details Rob Morrison rob.morrison@baculasystems.com +41 21 641 60 80 rob.morrison@baculasystems.com Company Website https://www.baculasystems.com/

May 11, 2022 06:12 AM Eastern Daylight Time

Announcing Launch of Devium, Web3 DevOps Platform for Next-Generation Blockchain Applications

Devium

Devium, a company building a decentralized application development platform for Web3 applications enabling developers to own and monetize their code, today announced the company and platform launch, and timelines for the upcoming DEVI token launch. Devium offers an end-to-end decentralized software development platform built for Web3, giving developers the ability to own and monetize their code through in-platform licensing and an NFT marketplace. The platform also supports current development in Web2 environments and provides easy migration to Web3. It leverages all the decentralized benefits of blockchain such as greater security, platform availability, and lack of censorship or tampering that can occur in centralized platforms run by a single entity. The need for Devium was first recognized by long-time developer and founder, Latif Vardar, several years ago. In 2019 he gathered a team of developers and blockchain professionals to form the company and started the development of Devium’s platform MVP (minimum viable product). “Our team has been working hard to create a next-generation app development platform to solve existing DevOps Web2 issues and provide an easy migration path to Web3 application development” said Founder and CEO, Latif Vardar. “Our mission is to help Devs have more control and ownership of their work and be able to build their wealth through an NFT marketplace that enables streamlined source code licensing and a ready market of buyers.” He added “We see a huge opportunity for this platform as the need for more sophisticated DevOps methodologies and the demand for Web3 blockchain applications grows. We look forward to the rollout of our Testnet to Beta users over the next few weeks, and the public launch of the token this summer.” At the core of Devium is the DEVI token, an ERC-20 utility token built on the Ethereum blockchain. The token will be used for access and member benefits, licensing and NFT fees, marketplace transactions, and foundation operations and grants. It is anticipated that the DEVI token will play a large role beyond the platform as a currency of the Web3 application development ecosystem. The company’s platform is at the prototype stage currently and the Testnet version will be available in early June for Beta users to try. The company has started community building and will launch a series of influencer relationships, AMAs sessions, company partnerships, and KOLs (key opinion leader) relationships over the coming weeks to engage with users, token holders and investors. A private presale is ongoing, and the private sale will begin on May 15 th; whitelist information is available on the website. LaunchPad relationships will commence in a few weeks prior to IDO (initial DEX offering) and public launch of the DEVI token which is anticipated this summer. Website: https://devium.network Twitter: https://twitter.com/deviumofficial Telegram: https://t.me/+RNtFQC4TFhRiZjY0 Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/deviumofficial/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/deviumofficial Github: https://github.com/Devium-Network About Devium: Devium is a complete software development platform built for the next generation of Web3 decentralized applications, giving developers ownership and monetization of their code. It solves many issues of today’s centralized platforms including privacy, security, censorship, and availability. The platform gives developers familiar structures of existing Web2 DevOps environments, with an easy migration path to Web3. It features an end-to-end environment for code development, storage, project management, testing and licensing. Developers will be able to monetize their source code via NFTs sold on a platform marketplace. The Devium team are experienced software development and blockchain professionals passionate about giving developers the best tools for freedom, independence and wealth. Contact Details Linda Montgomery Media linda.montgomery@applicature.com

May 11, 2022 04:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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VFS Partners with Blackbird Interactive, East Side Games, and Timbre Games for $200,000 Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games Fund

Vancouver Film School

Announcement Highlights: The fund features three full-tuition scholarships for VFS’s Game Design program and one full-tuition scholarship for VFS’s 3D Animation & Visual Effects program. The total fund is valued at over US$200,000. Scholarship winners will be selected by Blackbird Interactive, East Side Games, and Timbre Games. Winners will also receive monthly mentorship from VFS instructors and design professionals from either Blackbird Interactive, East Side Games, or Timbre Games, as well as a four to six-month paid design contract at their respective game studio upon graduation. Submission process is currently open and closes on June 8, 2022, at 11:59 p.m. PDT. (Vancouver, BC) May 9, 2022 - Vancouver Film School (VFS), in partnership with Blackbird Interactive, East Side Games, and Timbre Games Studio is pleased to present the 2022 Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games, including mentorship and a paid internship. The scholarship fund, valued at over US$200,000, is open to applicants 18 years of age and older who identify as First Nations (status or non-status), Inuit, or Métis, and who are looking to enter the game industry as developers. The deadline to apply is June 8, and winners will be announced on National Indigenous Peoples Day, June 21. The Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games is a collaborative initiative between VFS and Vancouver-based game studios Blackbird Interactive ( Homeworld 3, Hardspace: Shipbreaker ), East Side Games ( The Office: Somehow We Manage, RuPaul’s Drag Race Superstar, Trailer Park Boys: Greasy Money ), and Timbre Games Studio (part of The Sumo Group). Three full-tuition scholarships for VFS’s Game Design program and one full-tuition scholarship for the 3D Animation & Visual Effects program will be awarded and may be applied to either the October 24, 2022, or January 3, 2023 intakes. Winners will be selected directly by top-tier AAA studios Blackbird Interactive, East Side Games, and Timbre Games, the latter of which will also select the winner who will enrol in the 3D Animation & Visual Effects program. Additionally, all winners will receive private mentorship by design professionals from Blackbird Interactive, East Side Games or Timbre Games, as well as by their instructors at VFS. Upon graduation, these winners will also receive a paid four to six-month work contract at their respective studio. Finally, each of the winners will be provided with a laptop for use during the program and to keep. The winner chosen by Blackbird Interactive will also receive a $5,000 housing stipend while studying at VFS. "Blackbird Interactive (BBI) is honoured to be collaborating with local gaming studios and VFS on the Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games. We are working to create impactful opportunities that First Nations, Inuit, and Métis students can explore, fulfilling their creative technology aspirations in meaningful ways. An education from VFS helps open the door to careers in film, games, 3D animation, and VR/AR design, among other fields. We believe that actions speak louder than words and that young people are the future. There is a lot more that needs to be done, but this is a small and important step for just one of our many local industries.” -Rob Cunningham – CEO & Co-Founder, Blackbird Interactive "Communities thrive on diversity. Whether we’re talking about games, entertainment, or film, we need to ensure we’re including voices and perspectives representative of the community around us. The Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games through Vancouver Film School can do just that. As a member of the Métis community, it is an honour to be able to support a program taking a step in the right direction towards a more inclusive creative landscape. While there's much work to be done, this is a good start." -Josh Nilson – Co-Founder, Studio Head and General Manager, East Side Games “At Timbre Games, our mission is driven by the idea that ‘culture drives creative’. The opportunity to support and collaborate with VFS, Blackbird Interactive and East Side Games on the Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games is a small first step to removing systemic barriers in entering the game industry for the Métis, Inuit, and First Nations people. All of us at Timbre are thrilled to be a small part of creating space in the games industry for these communities. I believe these students will play a significant role in the world of interactive entertainment in the years to come and we are grateful to have the opportunity to support their careers along the way. There is more hard work to be done in this space and Timbre is committed to listening and learning as we embark on our own journey.” -Joe Nickolls – President and Co-Founder, Timbre Games “It is a pleasure for VFS to be joining forces with three outstanding Vancouver studios to offer the 2022 Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games. This scholarship aims to foster more diversity and more inclusion in the game industry with the aim to have more Indigenous developers actively designing the next generation of games. At VFS, we are proud of the many Indigenous graduates from our programs who now have successful careers both in Vancouver and globally, and this scholarship is Vancouver Film School’s privilege and opportunity to play a role in emerging Indigenous developers building their creative careers.” -Christopher Mitchell – Head of Game Design and Programming for Games, Web & Mobile, VFS Vancouver Film School is committed to fostering and growing Indigenous representation in the video game industry. Indigenous artists, performers, and storytellers are a foundational thread in the fabric of the Canadian narrative, continuing to grow stronger as key voices within our country’s multidimensional creative landscape. For more information about the 2022 Indigenous Scholarship in Video Games, or to apply, visit https://vfs.edu/scholarships/indigenous-scholarship-2022. About Vancouver Film School In 1987, Vancouver Film School introduced the world’s first true immersion film program. Today, VFS is Canada’s premier post-secondary entertainment arts institution, offering an immersive curriculum in film, animation, design, and beyond. VFS is known for providing high-quality education in accelerated time frames and offers 15 industry-integrated programs in which students graduate in 12 months as an in-demand, industry-ready creative professional. VFS alumni are consistently credited on the highest grossing films, television shows, and games worldwide, in a global industry set to generate US$2.1 trillion in revenue in 2022. VFS Media Contact: Evan Biswanger Creative Director & Head of Marketing Vancouver Film School Follow VFS on Social Media: www.VFS.edu YouTube: www.youtube.com/VancouverFilmSchool Facebook: www.facebook.com/vancouverfilmschool Twitter: www.twitter.com/VFS Instagram: www.instagram.com/vancouverfilmschool Contact Details ebiswanger@vfs.com ebiswanger@vfs.com Company Website https://vfs.edu/

May 10, 2022 03:31 PM Eastern Daylight Time

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