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A prototype grant focused on the earliest stages of game development

From nothing to something, the Galaxy Fund is a prototype grant backing early stage experiments and bold new ideas from BIPOC and queer creators. 

About the Galaxy Fund

Equity begins at the leadership level and sometimes the initial barriers are the hardest to overcome.

The Galaxy Fund is a prototype grant awarded to ten exceptional artists each year. The grant has been designed to address a financing gap and given as unrestricted for each creator to use how they see fit for themselves and their studio such as staffing, hardware, coaching, legal fees, child-care, and therapy. 

I’ve heard it all before, “…it’s too risky,” “the market is unproven,” or “talk to us when you’re closer to launch.” There’s always an excuse when pitching bold new ideas and early stage experiments — especially when it’s from BIPOC, women, and queer founders.”

Evva Karr, Creator of Galaxy Fund &
Founder of GLITCH

Vela Recipients

Saffron Bolduc-Chiong

Saffron Bolduc-Chiong

Art Director, Mighty Yell

Saffron Bolduc-Chiong is a Canadian artist and game developer based in Toronto. She has experience as an artist for video games, comics, illustration, and 2D/3D asset creation. 

Bahiyya Khan

Bahiyya Khan

Game Designer, Writer and Filmmaker

Bahiyya Khan is a multiple award-winning South African game designer, writer, and filmmaker. Khan is most notably known for her IGF-winning FMV game, after HOURS, but more importantly, is the biggest My Chemical Romance fan.

Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou

Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou

Game Developer and Pixel Artist

Christina-Antoinette Neofotistou is a Greek illustrator, pixel artist, and game artist.

Star (Slide20XX)

Star (Slide20XX)

Composer | Slide20XX, Games Without Words

Star “Power,” (aka, Slide20XX) is a composer who decided to write music for video games at the age of 13 and hasn’t stopped since. Their work has appeared in Against Gravity’s VR title “Rec Room,” a Princeton affiliated massively multiplayer neuroscience game named “EyeWire,” and crowd-controlled music-based video games designed and shown at the Red Bull Music Academy in Madrid, Spain and MIT’s festival of arts and technology, Hacking Arts. Most recently, they produced the soundtrack for Calico, a game about magical girls running a cat cafe, and music for a pair of anti-racism PSAs created by Cartoon Network series, Steven Universe. They also work as composer, sound designer, and creative director for their game company, Games Without Words.

Nareice Wint

Nareice Wint

Game Director & Art Director, Miami Avalon

Nareice Wint is the Game Director at Miami Avalon; their first title – Pandora: Chains of Chaos – released in 2020, development has now started on their new title: Ascend. Nareice was listed in MCVs “30 Under 30 (2020)” and named one of “GamesInudstry.biz’s 100 most influential women” in games.

Francesca Carletto-Leon

Francesca Carletto-Leon

Founder & Game Developer at Compact

Francesca Carletto-Leon is an award winning game designer and educator whose work encompasses digital, tabletop, and alternative controller style projects. She holds an MFA in Game Design from New York University.

Emma Kidwell

Emma Kidwell

Writer, Firaxis

Emma Kidwell is a writer and narrative designer who’s work has been exhibited at the Smithsonian, Game Developers of Color Expo, and Wordplay. Kidwell was listed as one of Forbes 30 under 30 for games in 2021 and has been profiled by the New York Times.

Jessinia Saunders

Jessinia Saunders

Founder at Jellyfish Parade

Jessinia Saunders is creating games by weaving dreams with written wefts. She’s a writer who specializes in romance and the creator of Celestia, PAIRS, and many more through her studio Jellyfish Parade.

Catherine Unger

Catherine Unger

Art Director

Catherine Unger is an Art Director / Illustrator based in the sunny town of London. She has spent the last 11+ years making art for a number of award winning games and has been previously named BAFTA Breakthrough, Ensemble and Apple’s Ones to Watch.

Shandiin Woodward

Shandiin Woodward

Co-Founder & Art Director at Subliminal

Shandiin is Diné game developer and multidisciplinary designer from Albuquerque, NM. She Co-Founded Subliminal, where she spearheads her studio’s projects and crafts colorful worlds and characters. She has 10+ years experience in her artistic career and specializes in stylized game art and multimedia design.

Round I Contributors

$10,000+
Wholesome Games 
Evva Karr

$5000+
Clever Endeavour Games

$1000+
Adam Smith
Tanya DePass
Arin Hanson
Art Mata
Robert Peacock
We’re Five Games
No More Robots
Chris Wright

$500+
Kyle McKeever
Artavan Mkhikian
Mike Laidlaw
Connor Fallon
Corey May
John Bowman
Justin Vazquez
Nicholas R Roth
GoFundMe Team

Round I Contributors

$200+
 Melos Han-Tani
Dean Tate
Brock Brown
Howling Moon Software
Samuel Chiet
Ted Naleid
Alexander Engel
Benjamin Burnes
Alexandria Ast
Shaun Leach
Michael Matarese
Michelle R. Thomas
Mads Johansen
Chris Carollo
Austin Kelmore
Omar Cornut
Sam Gruber
Alex DBBF
Felix Kramer
Lindsay Lockhart

Round I Contributors

$200+
Sarah C Conde
Joseph Akerson
Vera Johnson
Andrew Fischer
John Bliss
Elan Majkrzak
Richard Desilets
Aubrey Scott
Micah Dyrud
Gwenael Tranvouez
Seth Hetu
Scott Siegel
Connor Frew
Eli Berg-Maas
Julia Schoeffling
Celia Hodent
Jonathan Morales
Glenn White
Frederic Gaudet
Patrick Reckitt
Simon Cooper

Round I Contributors

$200+
James Wagner
Gwenael Tranvouez
Jory Pestorious
Pavel Samsonov
John Obelenus
Neil Bickford
Erika Olsen
Alan Harding
Erik Waananen
Anthony Panecasio
Meggan Scavio
Marc-Olivier Bouchard
Eric Porowski
Rusty McLellan
Stav Hinenzon
Sunny Klair
Autumn Beauchesne
Charles Pratt
Elizabeth Knight Frost
Gabe Smedresman
Jenna Pederson

Round I Contributors

Rachel Bazelais
Olive Perry
Stav Hinenzon
Damien Quartz
Stav Hinenzon
Nichola Adams
Mackenzie Denker
Jonathan Hopkins
Geoff Smith
Yves Le Yaouanq Le Yaouanq
Zack Schutz
Jake MacKay
Sweta Mohapatra
Jacob Geller
Amy Zoeller
Rachel Burnison
Nevin Mullen
Elissa Tobias
Samantha Hamilton
Matthew Macomber
Sarah Podzorski

Round I Contributors

Deana Galbraith
Jayme Last
Sherveen Uduwana
Kaitlin Tremblay
Jonathan Levstein
Ben Harvill
Mel Choyce
Charlie Mackin
Michael Turner
Christopher Noonan
Micah Perez
Tanya Short
Katie Chironis
Ellis Powell
Lisa Hanawalt
Colin Horgan
Lateef Martin
Osmina Deveraux
Rayna Anderson
Henry Pullan
Lucy Starita

Round I Contributors

Simon Voorhees
Brody Brooks
martin kvale
Nathan Bartley
Christopher Maire
Trever Berryman
Aaron Nemoyten
Colleen Macklin
RANDALL OCONNOR
Piper Hogan
Eris Koleszar
Giuseppe Modarelli
Hayden Walling
Katie Better
Jeff Pettiross
Zachary Wolfe
Laurence Kirkby
Jeffrey Rousseau
Jess Dale
Tiana Cheng-Wilson
Cameron Pinard
Jackie Dubil

Round I Contributors

Yussef Cole
Jonathan Liu
Sekayi Edwards
RICHARD D MARTIJA
Matthew Rorie
Liam Esler
Katie Better
Mary Kate Jimenez-Wall
Gregor Gullwi
Violet Pena
Em Lazer-Walker
Jay E Treat
Bryan Bronstein
Mike Uyama
Jean Leggett
Anthony Cochetti
Jonah Iles
Anthony Cochetti
Catherine Moore
Ryan Cavanagh
Chris Pflaumer
Shane Yach

Round I Contributors

Andrea Luc
Baylee Adams
Melissa Borda
Sarah Lord
Toni Rocca
Nate Kiernan
Harrison Pink
Gordon Freischlad
August Brown
Stephen McGregor
Leah D Cooper
August Brown
Kashaun Clyburn
michelle weber
John Ratz
Eric Kubli
Phaedra Riley
Stephen McGregor
DEXTER T LOHNES
Lucas Crispen
Nick Rudzicz
Alexis Lessard
Amber Motley

Round I Contributors

Connor Bell
Caspar Gray
Aenne Schumann
Miranda E Cornelius
Aquma 999
Jasper Cecelya
William Parker
Peter O’Keefe
Marie Brunkhorst
Joshua Schmidt
Alan Carroll
Abraham Gellis
Sally Blake
Kelly Kingdon
Alex Snyder
Jeff Chang
Colin Magerle
Kevin T Knight
Stav Hinenzon
April Riney
Violet Elder
Ryan Besadny

Round I Contributors

Sam Levatich
Kevin T Knight
Willi Schinmeyer
Eric Bradley
Genevieve Marshall
Saffron Bolduc-Chiong
Michael Sanchez
Phil Strahl
Quin Imeson
Finnen Cerises
kyle rennie
JAGGER PERUSSE
Shane Yach
Gabriella Azanu
Aarne Uotila
Tom Hulton-Harrop
Liam Young
Lukas König
Laura Buse
Da-Hee Im
Magnus Killingberg
Dora Montgomery

Round I Contributors

Llaura McGee
Catherine Martin
Jennifer Scheurle
Brad Dickason
Julie Fukunaga
Austin Flores
Andrew Barrow
Thomas M Blackburn
Charlie Ruble
Aidan Hanlon
Aaron Dorobek
Kari Jo Skogquist
Benjamin Doolittle
Amanda Kirk
David Gauthier
Marcus Stewart
Gordon Frederickson
Russell Masterson
Lauren Radeker
Alexandra Ofstedahl
Joe Bain
Joe Meredith
Ting Hwa

Round I Contributors

Abhinandan Nandi
Vincent HUBAU
lucy fletcher
Kara Snoble
Tom Battey
Autumn Rizzo
Sara Campbell-Szymanski
Tyler Magruder
Aaron Dorobek
Catheryn Broady
Whitney Lee
Emily Latta
Eleanor Jacques-Morel
Cameron Burke
Chris Spradlin
Javy Gwaltney
Christian Moyer
Celia DeLago
Lakshman Swamy
Brian S. Chung
Heather Oldfield

Special thanks to the Creative Tech Alliance

The Creative Tech Alliance (CTA) is an arts organization dedicated to supporting creators working at the forefront of art and technology. Thanks to their work and partnership, the Galaxy Fund is a charitable and tax-deductible donation for all individual, studio, and foundation contributors.

How it works

Nomination & Application

Apply or nominate an incredible creator for the Galaxy Fund. Currently, the fund is rolling and you can do this at any time throughout the year then awarded in groups.

Fund Distribution

Galaxy is crowdfunded then distributed in to parts, an initial sum to get started and the final portion upon completion. We ask that a prototype is completed within 18 months of initial distribution.

Review Period

The applications are reviewed between January-March of each year fiscal year. Creators are notified of their nomination and are asked to accept before announcement. 

c

Reporting

Upon completion, creators must provide a link to their prototype and a brief written response about your process amounting to no more than 500 words. Creators have all ownership & IP rights. 

Nominate Someone

We all know someone who makes the most stunning games, is exceptionally hard-working, and often goes unseen — heck, this person may even be you. Nominating someone takes less than 10 minutes and a $10,000 grant could change their life.

Like what’s going on here and want to contribute?

Individual

For as little as $1, you can contribute to the Galaxy Fund and be a part of awarding grants to game makers. Contribute now to the 2020 GoFundMe page, anything beyond $50,000 will be directed to the our 2021 raise.

Corporate Donor

A direct impact you can see in action, immediately. Your dollars go further when we work together. If you’d like to help us expand the amount of dollars granted annually or offer matching funds, we’d love to hear from you.

FAQs

What is a grant?

Grants are given —  often by a public body, charitable foundation, or a specialised grant-making group (hey that’s us!). These grants are then awarded to another individual or entity for a public benefit or goals for social impact. The Galaxy grants are not a publishing, equity, or loan agreement.

Unlike loans, grants are not to be paid back and sole ownership is awarded to the creator.

A small note: since we launched Galaxy Fund, we’ve seen many others create “grants” with terms that look much more like a loan or royalty-based publishing agreement. Please be sure to talk to a legal representitive before signing!

How are recipients selected?

We review all of the materials submitted through the Google form. Right now it’s only me (Evva!) and I ask for a bit of time from staff at GLITCH who kindly donate their spare time to help me go through all of the applications.

I’m working towards establishing a review committee of previous recipients and community leaders. If you’re interested in being a part of it, please feel free to email at galaxy.prototypegrant at gmail dot com with the subject line “selection committee”

What if I don't complete my prototype in 18 months?

We get that life happens and expect recepients to keep an open line of communication with us. 

You won’t need to return any funds if your project goes uncompleted but we won’t be able to award any remaining dollars without a completed prototype. 

I'm a creator who wants to help fundraise on Tiltify!

YES PLEASE AND THANK YOU!

Here’s your Creator ToolKit with everything you need.

Inside you’ll find details about the fund and overlay assets for you to use while streaming. Let us know 5 days in advance when you go live at creativetechalliance at gmail dot com and we’ll get you nominated for a front page feature.