Christophe De bont 
23/06/2021It’s a sad reality not everyone is getting equal chances in this life. The modern world is tough enough as it is, but it’s made even harder for certain marginalised groups. People are slowly waking up to the notion of the need for more inclusivity and diversity, but as recent events have shown, there’s still a long way to go.
At FLEGA and the other game federations in Belgium (united under BelgianGames) we’re still convinced that a more inclusive and diverse environment will result in a more creative and stronger #BelgianGamesIndustry. That’s why we’re very happy to sit in on a roundtable on gender and inclusivity in the video game sector during VAF’s “Everyone in the Picture” digital event on Tuesday 29th of June. FLEGA and BEA Interactive General Manager David Verbruggen will discuss the matter with actress and presenter Aminata Demba (Represent), like Charlie co-founder Dagmar Blommaert, international community manager at Howest-DAE Allie Weis, and VAF’s own Naomi Nelan.
The roundtable comes at the heels of a keynote by Kim Belair. Belair’s a writer, narrative designer and CEO of Montreal based Sweet Baby Inc. She’s also part of the selection committee of WINGS Interactive, a fund supporting indie games created by women and diverse teams. As she’s working with underrepresented groups in the video game sector on a daily basis, her lecture is bound to be inspiring for both video game developers and audiovisual professionals alike.
Video games aren’t the sole focus of the event. Keynotes by Miranda Wayland, Head of Creative Diversity at the BBC and Kirsten Schaffer of Women in Film will discuss similar topics in different areas of audiovisual production. While not tailored to the game sector, we’re certain a lot of the insights will be of use for our local game studios as well.
You can find the full schedule on the event page (link in Dutch), and sign up for this free event (link in Dutch) here. Perhaps we’re not allowed to light up a rainbow in a football stadium, but we owe it to our humanity to listen and respect everyone’s voice. We sincerely hope you agree.
