Spend your lunch hour getting to know the game developers featured in FREE PLAY: Innovative Ohio Game Design—an interactive exhibition that explores video games as powerful media for critical inquiry, experiential learning and creative exploration—opening in CIA’s Reinberger Gallery later in the evening from 5–8pm.  

“The Power of Play: Ohio Game Developers Panel Discussion”—moderated by Robert Lauer, Assistant Professor of Animation and co-organizer of the exhibition—will feature representatives from the developer teams presenting games in the exhibition:  

• Matthew Beckwith, Co-Owner of XRtistry and CIA Adjunct Professor of Design 
• Steven Ciampaglia, Co-Founder of The Plug-In Studio and Champney Family Endowed Associate Professor of Art at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art 
• Davionne Gooden, game developer and creative director at Studio Zevere 
• Jarryd Huntley, Sr. Lead Optimization Engineer at Owlchemy Labs and part of Team OFK  
• Kerry Richardson, Co-Founder of The Plug-In Studio and Full-time Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University’s Department of Art History and Art 
• Chris Totten, Founder of Little Nemo Inc. and Assistant Professor of Game Design at Kent State University  
• Lindsay Watson, CEO + Co-Founder, Augment Therapy 

The panel discussion will take place during Lunch on Fridays from 12:15 to 1:30pm Friday, November 7 in CIA's Peter B. Lewis Theater. 

You can learn more about the exhibition and featured games at cia.edu/exhibitions/free-play-innovative-ohio-game-design.

Speaker Bios

Robert Lauer is a freelance 3D artist, independent developer and Assistant Professor at the Cleveland Institute of Art. He loves the power of play and works to foster this love through his work and actions as a co-organizer for the Cleveland Game Developers. Alongside his freelance work he is currently developing the game “A Little Lost” and was previously the Creative Director at 360 Alley, an augmented reality design studio where he used his passion to develop apps for museums and children's books and created design tools. 

Matthew Beckwith is a co-owner of XRtistry, an extended reality studio in Cleveland, Ohio. Through XRtistry he works with clients to create custom augmented, mixed, and virtual Reality applications that tell stories, showcase products and environments, or develop new technologies. Beckwith also serves as an Adjunct Professor of Design at the Cleveland Institute of Art. 

Steven Ciampaglia is a new media community artist and the Champney Family Endowed Associate Professor of Art at Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Institute of Art. He has presented his artwork and research at MIT, Stanford University, and Columbia University. He has been published in the Harvard Educational Review, Studies in Art Education, and the Journal of Social Theory in Art Education. Along with Kerry Richardson, he co-founded The Plug-In Studio, a socially engaged new media artist collective that collaborates with members of diverse communities to make art with technology. 

Davionne Gooden is a Cleveland-based game developer, filmmaker, screenwriter, photographer, and creative director of Studio Zevere. He served as a guest artist for Google’s interactive Jerry Lawson Doodle in 2022 and is currently hard at work on “She Dreams Elsewhere”, the studio’s debut title. His work has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes, Paste, Edge, and Polygon, blending heartfelt storytelling with bold, stylish design—all while empowering others to find their own creative voice. 

Kerry Richardson is a socially engaged media artist who works primarily in community-based collaborations. In 2012, she co-founded The Plug-In Studio with Steve Ciampaglia; their work has been exhibited at Ogden Contemporary Arts, the DePaul Art Museum, Hyde Park Art Center and Bit Bash Interactive Arts Festival in Chicago. The Plug-In Studio was awarded a Blade of Grass Fellowship for Socially Engaged Art, and their projects were funded by the Illinois Art Council, Propeller Fund, Chicago Art Department and the Shapiro Center for Research and Collaboration. Her video work has been screened at the Gene Siskel Film Center, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and internationally at film festivals. She is currently a Full-time Lecturer at Case Western Reserve University where she teaches new media, videogame design, and video art in the Studio Art Program. 

Christopher Totten is an Associate Professor of Game Design at Kent State University. He is also the founder of Pie For Breakfast Studios and Team Nemo, Inc., both award-winning Northeast Ohio-area indie game companies. He has worked as an artist, animator, level designer, and project manager in the game industry and has written multiple books on game design and animation. He holds a master's degree in architecture with a concentration in digital media from the Catholic University of America in Washington, DC. Chris is one of the co-founders of the Smithsonian American Art Museum Indie Arcade and lifetime member of the International Game Developers Association (IGDA). 

Lindsay Watson is the CEO + Co-Founder of Augment Therapy, an award-winning digital health company that engages people of all ages and ability levels in immersive exercise from hospital to home. She has spent her career working in outpatient adult and pediatric physical therapy, as well as school-based physical therapy. Her work in those environments inspired her to found Augment Therapy in 2017 with the goal of improving the therapy experience for children and bringing increased innovation to the pediatric market. In 2019, she was named by Crain's as a "Most Notable Woman in Technology," and a "Homegrown Hero" by Cleveland.com. 

Image credit: “ARWell PRO + ARWell” presented by Augment Therapy, an Augmented Reality Wellness app full of games designed to enhance strength, coordination, executive function, endurance, and emotional regulation while making movement fun.

Parking

Lunch on Fridays attendees may park in CIA's Lot 73 and Annex Lot, both of which surround our campus. Please note that signs posted around those lots correctly state that parking typically requires a CIA permit or visitor pass and that violators will be ticketed. However, to accommodate our valued Lunch on Fridays attendees, that policy won't be enforced during the program. Have questions? Please contact Reinberger Gallery at reinbergergallery@cia.edu or 216.421.7407.