Games officially recognized as art by the U.S. Government

The US Government’s National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) now considers video games a form of art and allowing games to be eligible for artistic funding.

The NEA is a US government organization program which decides which grand artistic projects are worthy of receiving Federal funding. Artists can submit applications of their non-commercial projects and receive up to 200K in grants to support their work.

The debate for “games as art” will probably go on for years before it will be accepted, but at least one important government organization now official considers video games as art.

The NEA has opened its applications this week for 2012 and announced they will be changing their guidelines to what is acceptable art. The category formerly known as “The Arts of Radio and Television,” is now called “The Arts in Media,” which will include film, television, radio artistic projects, and video games. Additionally, satellite-based, internet-based and interactive media will now also be included for project submissions.

Looks like video game projects will be heading up for quite a tough competition as they’ll be competing with many other types of media for the grant. None-the-less, this is a great opportunity for aspiring game-makers to get his idea out. The types of projects that the NEA would approve must serve some good for the public. We can probably expect to see something towards a more educational or family friendly oriented. $200k is a small budget for AAA titles, but this may be sufficient for the type of games NEA are looking for.

Whatever games that comes out of this, may not even see the light of day by us or our average readers, but I’m just glad the government in some form as accepted video games as art.

If you think you got what it takes, submit your application to the NEA website

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