OYA SCALE UP IMMERSIVE

This year, we helped design and deliver the second cohort of OYA Scale Up Immersive, together with our partners OYA Black Arts Coalition, a non-profit organization started by Fifth Wave Labs cohort 1 participants Alison Duke and Ngardy Conteh George.

Scale Up Immersive is a four-month immersive accelerator lab dedicated to boosting Black content creators and/or producers specific to original immersive media production.

Cohort 2 supported 12 creators/producers:

− Sharrae Lyon, Ohm Anahata Inc.

− Tendisai Cromwell, Tendisai

− Queen Kukoyi & Nicole Nico Taylor, oddsidearts

− Will Selviz, RENDRD Media

− Hansel Alonzo & Benjamin Agbeke, Undertone Productions

− Ella Cooper & Karen Chapman, Brown Rabbit Studios

− Valerie Amponsah, Valerie Amponsah

− Derek Brin, Fierce Music/Fierce Media

− Faduma Gure, The Black Nerds

In year 2, candidates participated in industry expert consultations, targeted and intensive workshops and case studies, hands-on mentorship and networking opportunities, as well as a rapid prototyping lab that included access to state-of-the-art motion capture production facilities and technologies through program partner, Dark Slope. Cohort 2 finished with a wrap event where participants showcased their virtual reality prototypes at Dark Slope studio.