“The Hand Eye Society both initiated and have consistently innovated in making videogames an integral and respectable part of our broader cultural fabric. Peerless community organizers, they set the stage for what I believe is one of the most important new movements in global games culture: showcasing achievements on a hyper-local level, making games part of civic pride, and helping independent and personally-driven development become a sustainable and flourishing business. All of us, everywhere else in the world, are still simply following the trails they’ve blazed.” — Brandon Boyer, IGF Chairman Since starting in 2009, the Hand Eye Society has positioned itself as having a cultural focus similar to other organizations that serve the film, animation, or literary arts. We are an incorporated not-for-profit. Our Socials are modelled after art openings or rock shows than industry networking events. We started the Torontron project, which went on to inspire the Winnitron arcade network, with the intent of providing a “mobile gallery” with a curatorial eye. The Difference Engine Initiative, a partnership with the Toronto International Film Fest, was started to address the lack of diversity (gender and otherwise) in our community. Half of the presentation will be discussing what we have done, and half will be discussing what we’ve learned, hopefully of use for people looking to start (or refocus their meetup groups into) videogame arts organizations.

2. We are a videogame arts
organization. Our mission is:
● to help people create games;
● to connect gamemakers with each other and
with an audience;
● to foster diversity in game creation and the
public perception of games.

3. What We've Done: Socials
Programmed game culture events with the
energy of a book launch, art gallery opening or
rock show as opposed to a networking event.

4. What We've Done: Torontrons
We retrofitted classic
arcade cabinets to play
modern games by local
developers and put them
in public spaces as
curated "galleries" of
videogame arts. The idea
inspired an international
indie arcade network.

5. What We've Done: Initiatives
TIFF Nexus has
allowed us to
experiment with and
publicise different
models of
gamemaking,
increasing diversity
and strengthening
cross-sector
collaboration.

6. The Hand Eye Society set the stage for what I
believe is one of the most important new
movements in global games culture... All of
us, everywhere else in the world, are still
simply following the trails they've blazed.
—Brandon Boyer, IGF Chairman, Austin TX

7. Why We Started An Arts Organization
● because it's more fun to work together
● just saying the words "videogame arts
organization" together surprises the general
public: it's a kind of cultural activism
● we found the business focus of a lot of
existing meetups to be kind of boring
● we wanted to celebrate interesting game
culture regardless of indie/corporate divide

8. How We Started
● we got together and figured out something
we needed, ourselves
● we divided up the work (avoid burnout,
keeps it fresh)
● we stuck a flag in the ground and invited
people to participate
● we made membership available for anyone
who pledged 10 hrs to a videogame
community project, expanding what
projects we could take on

9. Volunteer Power
● did you know that people LOVE videogames?
● by offering volunteer opportunities we give
people an outlet to express this love
● it's a volatile but clean burning way to
power your projects: solar power
● where it gets tricky is when some people
get paid and some don't: we started to pay
people who put in more than their 10 hrs at
$25/hr (arts admin wage)
● give people small things to do, then bigger

10. http://handeyesociety.com/event/arcadian-
renaissance-video/

11. Case Study: Arcadian Renaissance (2010)
● our first Toronto International Film Festival
(TIFF) partnership
● Nuit Blanche is an all-night art thing
● Nidhogg was fascinating even to non-
gamers, something we playtested in a
Social: how games are presented is still
totally open and exciting
● sponsorship from individual indies, most
who kept their cabinets
● cabinets are very heavy

12. Incorporation
● to qualify for the TIFF Nexus funding, we
incorporated as a not-for-profit
● don't do it til there's money on the table as
it's either costly or boring and stressful
● adds $3K/year to pay for accountant/ins.
● we chose not-for-profit to distinguish from
a business approach but this has additional
onerous requirements
● it does open up possible funding, but it's
still not easy to get: we've never had
operational

13. Funding
● since 2009 we've received three $2K arts
council grants and about a total of $60K for
the four initiatives we did with TIFF Nexus
● we were able to carve out about $6K for
HES operations, but it was a fight
● we strive to never be dependent on a single
funding stream
● we never want to be one of those orgs that
primarily exists to continue existing

14. Partnerships
● find small ways to work together first
● with similarly sized orgs
● with larger orgs: more money, more
paperwork, cultural differences
● with smaller orgs: commit to consensus, be
conscious of the power difference

15. http://handeyesociety.com/difference-
engine-initiative/

16. Case Study: Difference Engine (2011)
● one of our most impactful initiatives and
one of the most problematic
● there were a few conflicts, mostly where
we made decisions without consulting the
participants
● all-women/homogeneity? all under-repped
group will be sensitive to power dynamics --
key thing for future DEI iterations

17. Now We are All-Powerful...
● the growing pain is that to get initiatives like
that funded, we have to read as large and
credible, which means that we read as large
and credible to people in the community
too: this distances us from our original base
● increasing transparency: board members
online, meeting minutes
● increasing member agency: AGMs and bylaws
● bylaws are basically the rules of the game,
so you can think of it as system design

18. Don't be ashamed of starting really really
small. I think in many cases people get these
great ideas and shoot for the moon before
they figured out how the cannon works. Their
gusto is amazing and inspiring, and frankly
there's nothing wrong with it, but you can
burn yourself out if you bite off more then you
can chew too early.
-- Derek Ledoux, Dirty Rectangles (Ottawa)

19. Teaming up with a local school (DePaul
University) gave us both a venue and limited
sponsorship (e.g. for chips and soda). And
having one of the cofounders be an instructor
at the school meant we always had a key to
get in.
--Erin Robinson, Indie City Games (Chicago)

20. Making connections with artist-run centres and
other orgs that aren't explicitly game-
affiliated has been invaluable to us... More
diversity and more cross-pollination with non-
games folks means more weird, interesting
stuff happening.
--Stephen Ascher, Mount Royal Game Society
(Montreal)