Guest Speaker James Howard Returns to Marketplace & Academy’s Sunday Luncheon

Episode 1 will follow the pilot and will premiere at this year’s ASTRA convention in Columbus.

Iamhonored to have an opportunity to participate in another exciting ASTRA Convention. Black Inventors Hall of Fame Films continues to partner with ASTRA to help build a bridge for enhanced diversity, equity, and inclusion in the toy and game industry. It has been a pleasure to work with Sue Warfield and her dedicated staff on many programs, including the recent wild and adventurous Toy Boat excursion.

Two years ago, ASTRA was joined by The Toy Foundation, Mattel, Hasbro, and Radio Flyer to provide funding support to my film project – “Black Inventors Got Game” (BIGG), a docuseries that tells the untold story of six African American inventors and their groundbreaking contributions to the toy and game industry. The pilot to that series, “The GATHERING,” has since garnered three awards, including a TAGIE.

Episode 1 takes place at last year’s ASTRA conference in Long Beach where a panel of Black toy and game inventors convened to discuss issues related to breaking into and sustaining within the toy and game industry. Episode 1 also tells the stories of David Vonner and Ken Johnson. Ken is celebrating 40 years as the inventor of Phase 10, one of the best-selling card games in the world. David operates Vonner Studios, a full-service toys development & design studio focusing on concept design, sculpting, paint, product management, research & development.

Ken and David will join me in this year’s convention as part of a BIGG team representing numerous Black toy and game designers that have amassed a presence in the industry, but realize that the path to commercial success and inclusion remains paved with obstacles. By utilizing film and panel discussions, the BIGG team continues to make inroads due, in large part, to a good amount of industry support; support that has been anchored by none other than ASTRA and Sue Warfield, who has committed to keeping the ball moving forward.

I would also like to acknowledge a few key individuals like Ken Ebeling of The Toy Association, who returned my call in the throes of COVID when no one was returning calls; Andy Weiner and Pamela Mastrota of The Toy Foundation, who I got to know quite well in numerous evening Zoom calls; Mary Couzin of Chitag, who pretty much connected me with everyone in the industry; and my good friend fellow Jerseyite, Ellen Lambert, who upon seeing the trailer to the BIGG film said, “This is a project that needs to be funded and it needs to travel.”

Ellen, your poignant vision provided the fuel and helped to set everything into motion. From the Bronx Community College to the Long Beach Convention Center and stops in between, the BIGG film and the panel of Inventors continues to travel across the country carrying a message of hope and the challenge for an industry-wide commitment to change.

We hope to see you all at the luncheon on Sunday, June 11 in Columbus!

The Black Inventors Hall of Fame, bihof.org, is a virtual museum devoted to immortalizing African Americans whose inventions have improved lives yet have gone unnoticed. Today the 501c3 organization is accepting donations to fund the building of a 31,000-square-foot facility in Newark, NJ, that features stateof-the-art STEAM classrooms, a theater and Metaverse library, a startup incubator, and a Legends Hall featuring the top Black inventors of the Golden Era of this country.