MACY
What is Media Arts?
For the purposes of MACY, Media Arts is defined as Film, TV, Computer Games and Digital Art.
What is MACY?
The Media Arts Curriculum for York (MACY) is a very long term economic plan that aims to invest in the educational experiences of young people, open-up media arts as a career option for York people, and massively raise awareness of the contribution that media arts makes to York’s economy, and the wider UK economy.
Who is involved with MACY?
Anyone can be involved with MACY. The initiative does not belong to any one person or organisation, it is owned by everyone in the city that supports it - this is why there are no logos or company / organisation names mentioned on this page.
The very beginnings of the idea of MACY was launched at Re-ignite in September 2023 by Chris Walker, who invited interested parties and stakeholders to get in touch. The transcript of Chris’s invitation can be found here. Reignite is a broad collective of parties interested in seeing the media arts sector succeed in York, and is supported by key creative private creative industry.
What is Reignite?
‘Reignite: Economic Impact through Creative Industries’ launched in autumn 2023 to celebrate York’s creative sector and its significant impact on the local economy. The event brought together representatives across all sectors to unite under York’s UNESCO Media Arts designation, with the aim of encouraging all sectors in York, including hospitality, retail, and transport, to recognise the vast potential of York’s creative sector to transform the city’s economy. Further Reignite events are taking place, please keep an eye on York BID’s events page.
What is a UNESCO City of Media Arts?
York has been designated as a UNESCO City of Media Arts since 2014. York joins a global network of UNESCO ‘Creative Cities’. This designation puts it on the same platform as cities such as Austin, Texas (USA), Sapporo (Japan), Toronto (Canada), Tel Aviv (Israel).
Who stands to benefit from MACY?
MACY is modelled on the idea of an area-based curriculum. The Royal Society for the Arts states the beneficiaries very clearly:
“The aim of an ‘area-based curriculum’ seems elegant in its simplicity: to enhance the educational experiences of young people by creating rich connections with the communities, cities and cultures that surround them and by distributing the education effort across the people, organisations and institutions of a local area.”
As a very long term plan (10-15 years) the idea is that York’s creative industries benefit from a pipeline of young people who understand and are excited about careers in media arts.
It is important to understand that none of the originators of this plan stand to gain financially from MACY.
What are the short term goals? How will MACY be developed?
MACY will be developed in stages. To keep up with the stages, please register your interest here, or keep an eye on this blog.
In brief, the short term goals will be married to stages:
Create an agreed city-wide vision - get everybody on board
Create a 10-15 year resilience plan - make sure it can last as long as a long term plan needs to
Create an implementation plan - explore and agree the best way to make it happen that brings everyone in
Then we can collectively implement MACY.