Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT) is holding auditions for virtual ambassadors, who will represent the school using online avatars.
The audition is open to current SIAT students who will have the chance to stream, play games, review media, and engage with the communitiy. The chosen students will also get financial and technical support from the school on larger projects, such as animated shorts and music videos.
J Tseng is the manager of Studio SIAT, where the ambassadors will work on their projects.
“It includes a motion capture studio that can do motion capture, green screen, and visual effects….a sound recording studio that can do podcasting, a voice and music recording and fully recording, as well as five post-production editing suites,” said Tseng.
While Tseng couldn’t share much about what the avatars will look like, she says they will be based on concepts they think the school community will identify with.
Tseng says they think it’s important to create opportunities for students to learn in culturally connected ways and virtual avatars are an up and coming medium in North America.
“It also brings many learning opportunities,” said Tseng. “(Students) also learn from folks in the industry that are doing this, members of the community that are doing this.”
The ambassadors will also get custom 3D models that they can keep after graduating, as well as up to $1,000 in financial support per term for big projects.