Strong Museum awarded $700k for exhibit on gaming's cultural impact

The Strong National Museum of Play has announced it has received a $700,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities toward a new exhibit that will explore gaming's influence on cultural history.

The grant is through the Chairman's Special Award, which the Endowment's guidelines state is awarded usually only once per year to a project that "examines important humanities ideas in new ways and demonstrates the potential to reach especially large audiences."

The exhibit, entitled Digital Worlds, will be split into two parts. The first part, entitled "Level Up," will put museum-goers into the role of a character on a quest and offer opportunities to solve puzzles and overcome other obstacles as they learn about video games in general. The second half, "High Score," focuses on the industry's evolution and the process of development.

Digital Worlds is scheduled to be opened in 2022.

"With the help of this grant, The Strong will be able to build a truly one-of-a-kind experience that will make the museum even more of a national destination," said Strong Museum present and CEO Steve Dubnik. "Support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other organizations is vital in helping transformative projects like ours to be successful so that we can share the cultural impact of play and electronic games with the world. We're honored to be selected for the Chairman's Special Award and appreciate NEH's recognition of the importance of video games to our ever-changing social history and cultural fabric."