Girls Make VR: Crafting the Future

Over Coffee® | Stories and Resources from the Intersection of Art and Science | Exploring How to Make STEAM Work For You

Girls Make VR started by using virtual reality to solve TWO social problems. The first? The underrepresentation of women in the tech field. And the second: the "divide" among us, in terms of education and future opportunities. Then, along the way, the program took on additional issues, such as poverty and homelessness. Georgia Van Cuylenburg is the Founder and Executive Director of Los Angeles nonprofit Arts Bridging the Gap. Arts Bridging the Gap's mission: the creation of top-quality arts programs for underserved youth. And one of those programs is Girls Make VR, for which Robyn Janz is Program Director. Girls Make VR, created in 2016 to educate young women from low-income areas, prepares them to be leaders in the tech field. The program partners with top companies, including Samsung and the Entertainment Software Association. Since its inception as a workshop during VRLA 2016, Girls Make VR has expanded. At the time of our interview, their after-school program was just about to wind up for the semester. Robyn and Georgia had just taken some of their young students to VRLA 2018, for their third VRLA onsite workshop --and counting. And for Fall semester 2018, they're reaching out to other schools, to see where else their classes can get young women working on their future tech skills. During Day Two of VRLA 2018, Robyn and Georgia talked about Girls Make VR, their experiences as innovators and educators, and their goals for the future. On this edition of Over Coffee®, you'll hear: How Georgia and Robyn first became inspired to make creative innovation their life's work; The story of the Girls Make VR program; How Georgia first came to start her nonprofit, Arts Bridging the Gap; The workings of a program which Arts Bridging the Gap devised, to create empathy between young people from both affluent and low-income backgrounds; How Robyn came aboard with Arts Bridging the Gap; Robyn's discovery of her VR calling through her professional background in a seemingly-different field; The landmark teaching experience that showed Robyn she was on the right path; How the Girls Make VR environment encourages participants to leave fear behind as they learn; A special invitation which Girls Make VR received (and which happened shortly after we recorded this podcast!); What students experience, in a Girls Make VR class session; How an exciting United Way partnership put the young students to work, addressing a current social crisis, while giving them a "work experience" that prepared them for the future; What's next, for the Girls Make VR program; What VRLA 2018 was like, for Robyn, Georgia and their Girls Make VR students; How to support Robyn and Georgia in all the amazing things they're doing!