Innovative in form and content, the 7th edition of Maker Faire Galicia returns to the global stage on Wednesday, June 2nd through Sunday, June 6th. 100% digital, the five days of talks, presentations, workshops, and exhibits explore cutting-edge tech and roll-out low fi hands-on activations that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. Register to enter a virtual dimension of the region’s famed Gaias Cidade de Cultura (City of Culture) and navigate its halls to discover curated content that covers everything from biotechnology to game design to cybersecurity to toy hacks and encounter awesome makers and their projects on the way.
Explore the space, talk to makers, participate in workshops…from your living room! To access the event, which is completely free and online, REGISTER on the platform. Once registered, during the days of the event, you can access the talks, workshops, and visit all the makers who will exhibit their projects over five days.
Among global Maker Faires, Galicia’s producers, Marcos Saavedra and Enrique Saavedra Martínez and their team, have been refining a unique model that provides content and networking tailored to makers, innovators, educators, and businesses over the first three days of the event, alongside two open exhibit days that function more like a traditional Maker Faire. Check out some of the amazing international content they’ve curated for 2021.
This year, Maker Faire Galicia turns the spotlight on the creation and development of video games. If last year this sector had space in the educational and open days of the event, this year its professional focus is highlighted and its meteoric growth, as well as the issues that arise from it, are a central topic of discussion.
Geek of All Trades Keisha Howard, the founder of Chicago’s Sugar Gamers, has been a leading voice for diversity and inclusion in gaming, Esports, and Geek culture. With several TED Talks under her belt, Keisha will be discussing how video games are much more than leisure, they are a system of ideas and processes that can inspire people and move them to action. Hear her speak on June 3rd.
During the Education Forum on June 4th, Dani Sanz, from juegosrobotica.es, shows the educational potential of creating video games using Micro: BIT through Microsoft’s MakeCode platform.
Sometimes gaming really pays off. On June 3rd @ 6pm (GMT+2) join journalist Marta Trivi, coordinator of the AnaitGames website and a host of the Reload podcast (the most popular Spanish-language video game program); David Ferriz, with more than 20 years of experience in the video game industry, is co-founder, graphic artist, and designer of DevilishGames; Mauricio García is the CEO of The Game Kitchen and the producer of Blasphemous, one of the best-selling Spanish indies and record funding on Kickstarter; and Laksmy Irigoyen Regueiro is the Lead Producer of The Waylanders, by Gato Studio in A Coruña, currently on Steam and GOG. She has a doctorate in Game Studies from the University of Santiago de Compostela.
Game Makers from around the world, including Jon Hare, creator of Parallax and Sensible Soccer, as well as David Farrell, Kimberley Rodatos, Juney Dijkstra, and Susana Sambade, who created such well-known games as Torchlight II, Star Trek Online, Neverwinter Online, Angry Birds Action, will talk about how they started creating video games, what inspired them to dedicate themselves gaming, and how they see the future of the sector.
Game Maker Jam is back to promote creativity and the development of video games, as well as to meet people and establish relationships between the different participants! Any engine may be used for the development of video games. Chat on the Discord channel. Games must be uploaded to the itch.io platform and installed from your app. Games and gameplay must be uploaded as a video file or link (YouTube, Twitch, Mixer, etc.). Winning teams, reviewed by panelists, will receive a trophy. Check on the rules and SUBMIT your games from June 3rd (9AM GMT+2) to June 5th (9AM GMT+2).
Education is another focus of Maker Faire Galicia 2021, building on a dedicated network that has developed in previous years and furthering the mission of producers VermisLab, whose work focuses on maker education. After a year of digital learning, the future of education is a subject of great interest for makers, educators, and families alike. The highlight of this year’s education day at Maker Faire Galicia is a forum that makes itself. The inaugural EDU Open Space offers space for reflection on education, where the attendees themselves raise the topics to be debated. Workshops on technology, education, and entrepreneurship — through the lens of intelligence, cybersecurity, or robotics — are highlights:
VermisLab will host a workshop for teachers to enter the world of robotics through the VEX virtual environment, thus allowing them not to depend on having technology physically in the classroom to teach robotics. Ferrán Fábregas, will explain to us how to teach robotics through the RiE Method (Robotics in Education). Artur Coehlo will lead a Computational Thinking and 3D modeling/printing workshop teaching to model on mobile devices or tablets. With Carmen Núñez you can enter the world of Artificial Intelligence with Machine Learning for Kids. Nilson Fabían Díaz Martinez, Professor at the Universidad Libre Cali, will show how to transform recyclable solid waste into low-cost tangible material in his workshop “Low-cost Maker Solutions with CAD digital educational resources.”
Other standout presentations and projects:
Valeria Corrales is a 12 year old maker who won Got Talent España, and is 50% of ValPat, a YouTube channel that, together with her partner and mentor Patricia Heredia, aims to inspire, entertain and educate children around the world in technology, with videos of STEAM projects.
José Gago, maker, medical student, 3X winner of Maker Faire Galicia, and inventor and CEO of BactiDec, a low-cost spectrophotometric device that allows surgeons to know in real-time the number of bacteria present in the surgical wound during the operation, allowing anticipation and prevention of possible post-operative infections.
César de la Fuente, Presidential Assistant Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, where he leads the Machine Biology Group whose goal is to combine the power of machines and biology to understand, prevent, and treat infectious diseases, give a talk on “The machine revolution: development of new antibiotics and diagnostic tests.”
To recreate the serendipity of walking around an in-person Maker Faire, the novel platform for Maker Faire Galicia that they developed last year and which feels something like Google Maps, provides access to maker exhibits. Check out more of the projects HERE.
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