Program Overview
Art & Design: Games & Playable Media (AGPM) is an interdisciplinary undergraduate program in the Department of Performance, Play and Design at UCSC.
Students in AGPM obtain a degree focused on the creation of games as art and activism, focusing on wildly original, creative, expressive games including board games, role playing games, immersive experiences and digital games. Students make games and art about issues including climate justice, Black aesthetics and queer and trans games. Students study interactive, participatory art, with a focus on learning about intersectional feminist, anti-racist, pro-LGBTQ games, media and installations.
The AGPM major focuses on the following areas of study - students interested in the major should expect courses and curriculum centered around these topics:
- Digital and analog games as art, activism and social practice
- Feminist, anti-racist, LGBTQ games, art and media
- Participatory or performance-based games such as role playing games, urban / site-specific games and theater games
- Interactive art including VR and AR
Exhibition methods for games in traditional art spaces and public spaces
- Performance, Play & Design
- Major
- Arts & Media
- Engineering & Technology
Career Outcomes
This interdisciplinary major will prepare students well for graduate education in arts and design. In addition, there are many careers that this major can prepare you for, including:
- Digital Artist
- Board Game Designer
- Media Activist
- Fine Artist
- VR/AR Artist
- 2D / 3D Artist
- Game Designer
- Game Writer
- Producer
- User Interface (UI) Designer
- User Experience (UX) Designer
Students have gone on to careers in games research, science, academia, marketing, graphic design, fine art, illustration, and other types of media and entertainment
Program Contact
apartment Arts Division Programs Office, Digital Arts Research Center 302
email agpmadvising@ucsc.edu
phone (831) 502-0051
