Introduction: Lorefest is the annual student-driven, research-based celebration of local/ glocal folklore that encourages Texas A&M students to work with Bryan/College Station communities and present their own creative take on regional Texas folklore. The students are charged to explore a range of folktales, then take their research and convert that into performative output shared with … Continue reading Lorefest 2024 →

Dedicated to Winston Li We would like to dedicate this Fall 2024 Write Up to Winston Li who passed away this summer right before the semester started. Winston Li was a Texas A&M Engineering student and filmmaker. He joined the Creative Media Lab in the Fall of 2023 when he and David Kang walked into … Continue reading Fall 2024 Write Up →

Introduction This post is made to honor joey lopez’s great great aunt, Jovita Idar, who raised his father’s mother, Jovita F. Lopez (maiden name, Jovita Fuentes.) joey’s grandmother Jovita F. Lopez would always tell him stories of his aunt and uncles, their family businesses and how at the core discussions over the kitchen table that … Continue reading Jovita Idar Honored on the U.S. Quarter →

I (joey) had the pleasure of helping Girl Island‘s Austin, TX shoot for the Sandy Stone documentary. I worked with Director Marji Vecchio and Danielle Holke to develop a production crew for the shoot in addition to their DP, Shuling Yong. Through the Convergent Media network I was able to get 3 generations of film … Continue reading Sandy Stone Documentary & National Women’s Hall of Fame Induction →

Introduction This Spring 2024 is one for the books.  The Media & Gaming Lab hosted 3 conferences, multiple weekly workshops, meetings and helped other organizations with media production.  We onboarded a new social media crew.  Multiple Media & Gaming Lab students, faculty and community members hit personal goals as well.  Below you will find our … Continue reading Spring 2024 Write Up →

Introduction Storytelling in the 21st Century – Our Academic Selves was a smash success. With roughly 70 attendees from all over central Texas, it was an amazing crowd of film makers, artists and academics showcasing their approaches to both teaching and practicing storytelling in the 21st century. The stories and lived realities shared by those … Continue reading Storytelling in the 21st Century – Our Academic Selves – Conference, Spring 2024 →

Wheelz Studio and Dreamonoid’s HiFi hosted Guadalupe Pop Shop to celebrate the opening of Wheelz Studio, a barber shop located in co-owner of Dreamonoid’s Christian Rios’ 1711 Guadalupe building in San Antonio, TX. Background Over the last year at Dreamonoid’s HiFi, I (joey) have transitioned to running a Dreamonoid’s in Bryan, TX and Christian Rios … Continue reading Guadalupe Pop Shop →

BIPOC Pop 2024 was definitely a new perspective for me.  Both times I came in the past I was highly involved with panels or workshops and definitely working on producing photos and video as primary content to document the event.  This time I attended as a co workshop leader and then just as an attendee.  … Continue reading LATINX POP BOPIC 2024 →

Music and Movie Making In Texas Conference Write Up The 2nd annual Music and Movie Making in Texas Conference was a success this year.  With around 60 people in attendance on Saturday and over (get amount from Zayno) at the School of Performance Visualization and Fine Arts Friday concert at the Grand Stafford Theatre. Organized … Continue reading Music & Movie Making in Texas Conference Spring 2024 →

Over the weekend of January 26-27, 2024, students from the School of Performance, Visualization, and Fine Arts at Texas A&M University attended Electric LaTex, a student electronic and experimental music conference in Baton Rouge, LA, on the Louisiana State University campus. The event focuses on university students from Texas and Louisiana, and is hosted by … Continue reading Electric LaTex Student Music Conference 2024 →

Introduction To say we had an action packed semester would be an understatement. We had a slew of activities going on within and beyond the lab. So many faculty, students and community members collaborated with the lab and have taken us on so many new trajectories and journeys. We cannot thank everyone who participated enough. … Continue reading Fall 2023 Media & Gaming Lab Write Up →

On February 4th, 2024, the Texas A&M Media & Gaming Lab, along with faculty from the School of Performance Visualization and Fine Arts hosted Synthposium, an event which brought together local synthesizer enthusiasts, musicians, engineers and academics to discuss and explore the cultural and technical aspects of the art form. Director of the Media & … Continue reading Synthposium Spring 2024 →

Introduction Conceived by Professor Matthew Campbell and William Connor of the Texas A&M School of Performing, Visualization, and Fine Arts, Lorefest 2023 was pitched as a Fall performance event that would: “The first annual Lorefest will bring together students, faculty and visiting artists for a weekend of spooky storytelling. Featuring “B” movies, puppets, red carpet … Continue reading Lorefest 2023 →

The LatinX Critical Creative Consortium was founded 2 years ago by University of Texas Professor Fredrick Luis Aldama at the University of Texas at Austin in 2021. Professor joey did a full write up about that event and the impact is had on the CMC and the MGL. Professor Regina Mills of the English Department … Continue reading LatinX Critical Creative Consortium →

The Media & Gaming Lab is proud to announce we have started producing student run podcasts. Under the guidance of Professor Jonathan Guajardo, Media & Gaming Lab students have launched two podcasts so far. Professors Joey Lopez and Jonathan Guajardo have garnered full support from the Department of Communication & Journalism and have secured a … Continue reading Media & Gaming Lab Launch Podcasts →

Arden visits us again! The summer of 2023 was a crazy time. We had a lot going on. Arden Duffield was able to make his way back from NYC and we hosted multiple meet ups and workshops, we put a whole series together and Arden’s spirit really carried the lab forward. Arden also joined us … Continue reading SUMMER 2023 ReCap →

The Media & Gaming Lab is so proud to announce that our own Zayno Rayne is working as a Talent Scout for local Bryan/College Station venue the Grand Stafford Theater. Zayno has been a member of our lab for some time now and his goal from day one has been to make music and be … Continue reading GRAND STAFFORD THEATER TALENT SCOUT – ZAYNO RAYNE →

Introduction The Media & Gaming Lab in the Department of Communication & Journalism at Texas A&M University is excited to share with you all our activities and collaborations from Spring 2023. We worked on student projects, collaborated across the university with amazing folks in the Department of Performance Studies, and offered two conferences to the … Continue reading Spring 2023 Write Up →

From March 25th to April 2nd Artist Zoe Nowak visited Texas A&M giving workshops, interviews and ended with a night of performances along with students of the Texas A&M School of Performance, Visualization and Fine Art. Conceived by Dr. Will Connor The visit was conceived and facilitated by the new faculty member of the SoPVFA … Continue reading Artist Zoe Nowak Visits Texas A&M →

Introduction Conceived and implemented by students, the Music & Movie Making in Texas Conference 2023 was held on April 15th, 2023 at the Liberal Arts and Humanities building located at Texas A&M in College Station, TX. The conference had over 60 attendees and was lived streamed. The concept of the conference was to bring regional … Continue reading Music & Movie Making in Texas Conference 2023 →

This is joey lopez reporting about the Latinx Pop Lab – BIPOC 2023. As previously posted, UT Austin’s LatinX Pop Lab hosted a BIPOC Conference in 2022, it was a huge success. This year was no different. Conceived by Dr. Fredrick Luis Aldama and facilitated by the stellar LatinX Pop Lab staff and volunteers, the … Continue reading LATINX POP LAB – BIPOC 2023 →

FALL 2022 Write Up Introduction This semester proved to be a busy one with a lot of projects, collaborations, media & gaming lab participant personal accomplishments and we even hosted a conference!  This was our first semester going full steam, with full in person and online meet ups plus hosting events.   As many know, our … Continue reading FALL 2022 Write Up →

Introduction The first Critical Creative Consortium was hosted last Fall at the University of Texas at Austin by the Latinx Pop Lab. This year, Texas A&M’s Media & Gaming Lab students, along with A&M Professors Regina Mills, joey lopez and Jonathan Guajardo, hosted the Critical Creative Consortium. Our official sponsors were: With this support, we … Continue reading Fall 2022 Critical Creative Consortium →

The summer started early for us, aka right as the spring semester ended. The Arden Effect Arden Duffield is a Media Lab enigma, someone who professor joey met at a coffee shop in downtown Bryan when he was shooting a student film in high school. Professor joey loved seeing a hungry film maker out doing … Continue reading Summer 2022 Media Lab ReCap →

Introduction Spring 2022 was definitely a semester of learning and re-learning as we came fully back to teaching in person, maskless.  As new media professors we are always learning new ways to engage with the students, re-think our course materials, andragogical approaches and in general facilitate a “creative space.”  This semester definitely caused us to … Continue reading TAMU Spring 2022 Media Courses Write Up →

Introduction To say spring 2022 was productive would be an understatement. The Media & Gaming Lab was supercharged by so many great contributors, collaborators, and visiting artists who engaged with our community like nothing we have ever seen before. Our efforts took us from inside Texas A&M classrooms to the Ann Arbor Film Festival. We created … Continue reading Spring 2022 Media Lab ReCap →

Introduction Ph.D. Candidate Anthony Ramirez and joey lopez phd were able to attend the BIPOC POP SYMPOSIUM on March 10th and 11th of 2022.  Collaborators of LatinX popular culture, such as their recent article published here in blog format about LatinX culture & video gaming and other projects like Showing Trajectories.  We have a passion … Continue reading BIPOC POP SYMPOSIUM 2022 – A Ground Floor Perspective →

Texas A&M Ph.D. Candidate Anthony Ramirez & Convergent Media member joey lopez recently presented “Critical Cultural Exploration of Video Game Stores Within Tejanx Communities” through Zoom at the Texas Tech Gaming Symposium – “The Hispanic and Latin American Video Gaming Experience: Imagery, Industry & Audience.” The Symposium was awesome! While we had hoped to go … Continue reading Anthony Ramirez & joey Present at Texas Tech →

Back in the mid 2010’s CMC co-founder Jonathan Guajardo was attending the University of Incarnate Word. He had completed his bachelors and was accepted to their masters program. For his final project he created “The BMC Effect,” a thorough look at alternative pedagogical programs that led up to the creation of the Convergent Media program … Continue reading The BMC Effect →

Welcome to our Media & Gaming Lab Fall 2021 write up. This blog post is definitely a collaborative effort. We have been hard at work developing programing, workshops, symposiums, consortiums, lecture series, narrative production development and submissions for film festivals. To say we accomplished a lot would be an understatement. I would like to thank … Continue reading Media & Gaming Lab Write Up Fall 2021 →

A POST BY joey lopez phd, Associate Professor of the Practice at Texas A&M and director of the Media & Gaming Lab in the department of Communication RADIO, RECORDS & POPULAR MUSIC – A JOURNEY INTO ALTERNATIVE WRITING COURSES I had some students make awesome blog posts, for academic context see below, to see cool … Continue reading Radio, Records & Popular Music →

The TAMU COMM Media & Gaming Lab are hosting a virtual lecture series this November. Our first speaker was last week and she did an amazing job!!! This is part of the Media & Gaming Lab – Texas A&M Department of Communication joey lopez phd is the director of. His students are really into film … Continue reading TAMU MEDIA LAB MINI FILM LECTURE SERIES →

November 2nd, from 5-8pm Anthony R. Ramirez and joey lopez are hosting the Dia De Los Muertos Symposium thru Zoom as part of the Latinx Creative Critical Consortium which is taking place on Nov 13th at UT Austin. We are proud to be hosting this virtual event, it is a collaboration between, UT Austin’s Latinx … Continue reading DIA DE LOS MUERTOS SYMPOSIUM & Latinx Creative Critical Consortium →

So what happened this summer? You would think we would have taken a break right? Nope! The meetings continued almost every Wednesday this summer. Hosted through Zoom we had meetups almost every week. When COVID numbers were down we even visited the lab a couple times to ideate out the space for the fall. The … Continue reading Summer 2021 Media Lab ReCap →

Downtown Bryan Outdoor Meetup The New Media Lab hosted its first in-person event of 2021 in downtown Bryan on March 30th. Led by Dr. Lopez, this meetup was joined by current and former students from COMM 230/250. Like our previous ones in downtown Bryan, this meetup welcomed students interested in asking questions and getting hands-on … Continue reading Media Lab Spring 2021 Re-Cap →

This Fall, the winds of change blustered throughout the Aggieland Communication community. While new Freshmen shuffled throughout the halls of Bolton, eagerly finding their place among within this great university, a new force emerged in Bolton 113 as the Department’s New Media Lab took shape. Spearheaded by Associate Professor of the Practice, Joey Lopez, PhD … Continue reading Texas A&M Media Lab →

As many of you all may know, I co-own and operate a HiFi store on the Westside of San Antonio called Dreamonoid’s located at the intersection of Trinity and Guadalupe.  Being part of the neighborhood is something of a family tradition as my grandmother’s uncles owned a bakery just a couple blocks down from our … Continue reading SanArte →

Howdy and greetings from College Station, Texas! While it’s been a while since our last post on the Convergent Media Collective website, it is not for lack of engagement. As a matter of fact, the previous months have been some of the most jam-packed in recent memory, and we haven’t had time to update the … Continue reading CMC Goes to Texas A&M →

I (joey lopez phd) was able to make it out to the 2019 ACTLab Conference for the first day, first presentation and wow did it impress! Happening in Austin, TX at the Vortex Theater, the 2019 ACTLab Conference was organized by Heather Barfield along with the support of many ACTLabbers like Jon Lebkowsky and Sandy … Continue reading ACTLab 2019 Conference →

Ernesto Cuevas is an artists the Convergent Media Collective has enjoyed following as he produces works that inspire and enrich so many.  CMC member joey lopez had the pleasure of catching up with Ernesto as he worked on “The Brown Buffalo” mural project that PBS commissioned him to produce in the spring of 2018.  The … Continue reading CMC Highlight: Ernesto Cuevas creates the Brown Buffalo Mural on the Westside →

Post by joey lopez phd It’s with great enthusiasm that I am writing about my 2018 HOPE conference adventure with Jeremy Zunker a fellow CMC member. I had known about the HOPE conference since I was a teenager/early 20’s, it was more lore to me then an actual event in those days. I had seen … Continue reading CMC at the 2018 Hackers of Planet Earth Conference →

On July 14th, 2018 joey lopez, co-owner of Dreamonoid’s HiFi hosted a speaker design meet up. Now for those who don’t know, joey, a CMC co founder, has been into audio since he was a young kid and recently along with UIW Convergent Media Gradudate Christian Rios opened Dreamonoid’s HiFi a British centric HiFi store … Continue reading CMC Covers Speaker Design Event at Dreamonoid’s →

And so, this year’s ACTLab Conference came and went… From May 18th through May 20th, over 30 participants, 10 presenters, and 2 keynote speakers filled the esteemed halls of the Institute of Texan Cultures for 3 days of unparalleled technological and cultural discussions. The level of engagement among participants captivated everyone present, and it would … Continue reading 2018 ACTLab New Media Conference Re-Cap →

Written by:  joey lopez phd It is always a pleasure to have new collaborators join us.  I have known Ernesto Cuevas for some time.  He has attended a couple of our meet ups.  But I met him initially through a community mural project I participated in and then further when I documented his Barrio Works … Continue reading Ernesto Cuevas, Artist, Graphic Designer and Community Advocate →

It’s always cool when you hear about an event your interested in happening at a cool space near you. This is exactly what happened when I heard about a synth meet up at Southtown Vinyl, a local record store in downtown San Antonio. I have been a big fan of Southtown Vinyl as they have … Continue reading Southtown Vinyl Synth Meet Up →

The Convergent Media Collective is proud to announce we are going to be hosting the 2018 ACTLab New Media Conference on May 18th-20th in San Antonio, Tx.  We have created an official page dedicated to the event on our site, as well as a facebook event page for questions and updates.  You can also find … Continue reading 2018 ACTLab New Media Conference →

You may have noticed less posting this year by the CMC Collective.  It is not because we have gone away, but that we have been so busy we have not had time to post updates.  That said, be on the look out for more blogs in the coming weeks and months updating everyone as to … Continue reading The year in review for 2017 →

The Convergent Media Collective would like to recognize Erika for her work this past Fall 2016 in the UIW Convergent Media I class. Erika came into the class ready to try new things.  A regular DJ for KRTU 91.7 and music lover, Erika explored her creative side through two awesome projects.  The goal of Convergent … Continue reading CMC Student Highlight: Erika Muth →

The Convergent Media Collective has been very fortunate over the years to meet, collaborate with and document so many great initiatives.  Throughout the process of learning about the greater San Antonio, Tx area we began to take note of all the moving parts in the Art & Technology programming going on.   We also began … Continue reading Project: OpenED SA →

For the 3rd year in a row professor joey lopez attended the academy word sanctioned Ann Arbor Film Festival.  Last year he had the pleasure of including students Terrance Raper and Josh Lightner and moderated of diverse group college students who shared their insights into film making.  You can read all about it here. This … Continue reading Convergent Media Collective Presents @ 2016 Ann Arbor Film Festival →

Kicking off the 2016 SXSW festival, SXSWCreate, the hub for innovation and creativity, invites thousands to showcase and share their passion for all things technology. Integrating music, culture and technology, the Austin Palmer Events Center hosted the most creative and brightest of minds, March 11-13. San Antonio natives, The Convergent Media Collective (CMC), hosted their … Continue reading Collective Hosts First-Ever Booth at 2016 SXSWCreate →

  After being rained out in October of 2015, Luminaria held its second attempt at success. Held at the San Antonio Museum of Art on February 19th, Luminaria showcased a diverse spread of installations and performances ranging from energizing music to cutting-edge technology. Among the great selection of artists was the Convergent Media Collective. Collective … Continue reading Luminaria Take Two: Tortillas and Technology →

The Convergent Media Collective teamed up with Amber Ortega-Perez of SpareWorks.dance and helped produced her MFA thesis project From Flesh to Abstraction:  an interactive disappearance. Envisioned by Amber Ortega-Perez as a contemporary dance interactive, responsive, international event where interpretive dance is shared, mediated and expressed across the globe through technological interfaces, From Flesh to Abstraction: … Continue reading From Flesh to Abstraction: an interactive disappearance →

Chris Hardee and joey lopez are proud to announce the BBZed Micron Super System. What started out as a labor of love with a deadline has become something of it’s own… What started out at 10bitworks hakerspace founded by Chris Hardee and gained it’s legs in the garage of co-founder joey lopez, BBZed’s Micron Super … Continue reading BBZed Micron Super System →

Palo Alto College, one of the Alamo Colleges, holds a dear place in the hearts of many CMC members as that is where they started their undergraduate career.  For Andrew Valdez he not only attended, but he now works there as a senior multimedia specialist in the public relations department.  Since beginning his job at … Continue reading CMC@PACFest 2015 →

The Convergent Media Collective is excited to say we were able to help augment the Where the Rivers Meet performance at the University of the Incarnate word through the creation of a processional path using LED lighting and Projections.  Our collaboration with the creators of Where the Rivers Meet began when associate professor Kevin Salfen … Continue reading Where the Rivers Meet →

We have recently started utilizing laser cutting in our projects. One project, in particular, has just recently been accepted into Luminaria 2015, which is a city wide arts festival. In addition to Luminaria, we have also been accepted into the SA Mini Maker Faire, which is another event based on hacker, technologists and innovators! Our … Continue reading Tortillas and Technology | Luminaria 2015 →

Convergent Media Collective member, Charlie Young, introduced San Antonio to his new work which was curated by Lady Base Gallery, and shown at Studio Fantomas, located at 1906 South Flores. The exhibit was titled, “New Works by Michael Martinez and Charlie Young” which opened to the public on #SecondSaturday, which is a city-wide arts night … Continue reading CM Spotlight: Charlie Young →

A brief history: The Convergent Media Showcase is relatively young. There had only been one before it. That was last year. However, the tradition of the Convergent Media Showcase goes back much further.  It all began at the University of Texas at Austin’s ACTLab.  The ACTLab, one of the founding programs of the new media/convergent … Continue reading Convergent Media Showcase Spring 2015: Going Big →

Over the past year convergent media member professor joey lopez (Editors NOTE:  professor joey lopez requests that his name be lowercase in an effort to create reflexive awareness of power structures) has been working on a special project to develop convergent media representations of Chinese Calligraphy through various mediums and convergent media technologies.  His interest began … Continue reading Chinese Calligraphy Prototyping and Demos →

When: Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 Time: 6:30 DJ and snacks, presentations start at 7pm Where: Radius 106 Auditorium Cir #125 San Antonio, TX 78205 (map) RSVP: Facebook or jtlopez1@uiwtx.edu   The Convergent Media Showcase Spring 2015 is a celebration of the University of the Incarnate Word’s Convergent Media students senior projects. Last year was our … Continue reading Convergent Media Showcase Spring 2015 →

In 2013, Mariana Brazos, a University of Incarnate Word student proposed a capstone that would take the steps to create an official Alliance for Women in Media chapter student chapter in San Antonio.  Mariana not only successfully created the student organization, she also landed a job with local station Univision 41 as a field reporter.  … Continue reading San Antonio Alliance for Women in Media host the 2014 Media Olympics →

Despite the fact that no one expected an audience of over 70 people, over 100   experienced the Convergent Media/Comm Arts Capstone Showcase. Christian Rios aka Dreamonoid (UIW  Convergent Media ’12) kicked off the event with one hour of electronic dance music (EDM) while people gathered and mingled within the storied halls of the Institute … Continue reading Convergent Media Showcase Spring 2014: Success! →

On October 26th, 2014 the Boy Made of Lightning team, which include CMC members Kaye Cruz and joey lopez presented along with author Barbara Renauld Gonzales at the Texas Book Festival.  In addition to the core Boy Made of Lightning team, Jonathan Guajardo and Andrew Valdez of the CMC collective also helped with various aspects … Continue reading Boy Made of Lightning presented at the Texas Book Festival →

On Friday, August 1, 2014 the Spare Parts Fine Arts Fair was held. The CM Collective was asked to snag some photos and pick up some video of the event. We have covered Spare Part activities in the past, but this one holds a special place in our hearts. The Spare Parts Fine Arts Fair … Continue reading CM Helps Spare Parts Fine Arts Fair →

We initially helped consult with OpenED Jam CMC co-founder joey lopez and member Mariah Villarreal came up with the idea for the conference. We helped develop a video and helped with the development of the social media campaign of the event. We also consulted on various aspects of the actual “day of” and coordinating of … Continue reading OpenED Jam Re-cap →

Back in the summer 2014 the convergent media collective was approached by 10bitworks to help them with a fundraiser to purchase a laser cutter for their space. 10bitworks is a 501(3)(c) non-profit that focuses on maintaining a physical space for the greater San Antonio community to come to and interact with like minded makers and … Continue reading CM helps San Antonio based 10Bitworks raise $12,000! →

This trip began over a year ago.  I had been invited to speak at the Ann Arbor Film Festival’s Expanding Frames program.  It was a new segment to the festival which encourage academics and professionals to come and lead workshops and round tables on the various aspects and influences of experimental film making.  So let’s … Continue reading CM@UIW Presents at the Ann Arbor Film Festival →

Join the Convergent Media Collective for #CMTalkSeries: Open Hardware, Open Minds The Convergent Media Collective hosts a wide array of talks, but one topic we hold dear to our hearts is open culture, whether it is open source software, hardware, education or thought in general. We are proud to have Jeremy Zunker and Brandon Wiley, … Continue reading #CMTalkSeries: Open Hardware, Open Minds →

The Convergent Media Collective is proud to host: #CMTalkSeries: Stories from the Photographers Lens… Joe Luna and Sarah Lyon’s will share their perspectives on photography and being a photographer in San Antonio and beyond. So come ready with questions and be prepared for a great evening of discussion and visual stimulation! Date: March 30th Time: … Continue reading #CMTalkSeries: Stories from the Photographers Lens… →

Date: April 6th Time:  7pm RSVP: Facebook or email: jtlopez1@uiwtx.edu Location: PLEASE NOTE: We will be having our talk at UTSA Main Campus! Yes we are truly collaborating and building bridges yay!!! Thanks Mark McCoin! Room ART 1.01.30 (UTSA New Media Studio), Art and Music building, One UTSA Circle, 78249 Join the Convergent Media Collective … Continue reading #CMTalkSeries: New Media making from abroad to the U.S. →

  In the spring of 2015 we were invited to attend the opening of “In His Own Words,” César Chávez Exhibit Opening Reception” at Centro Cultural  Hispano de San Marcos in San Marcos, Tx.  We found out about this event through Facebook as Juan Ramón Palomo, the speaker for the reception, is Corina Zavala’s uncle. … Continue reading CM attends- In His Own Words: The Life and Work of César Chávez →

The spring 2015 #CMTalkSeries was kicked off last week and it was a huge success!  We had the pleasure of hosting both Mark McCoin and João Beira who gave amazing talks.  Below you will find both talks in their entirety.  A big thanks to all those who attended!   Mark McCoin Reality Blending: Producing Interdisciplinary … Continue reading CMC Follow Up- #CMTalkSeries: New Media in the 21st Century →

Date: Feb 25th RSVP:  Facebook Theme: Converging Careers Speakers: Name: Andrew Valdez Title: Social Media in Higher Ed Description: My talk focuses on the innovative approach to social media in the higher education industry and how it has helped create an effective communication relationship between students and the college. I will also discuss how to … Continue reading #CMTalkSeries: Converging Careers →

The Convergent Media Collective is proud to host: A look at the San Antonio Art Scene. We have two guest speakers who are artists and curators in San Antonio, Tx. Both have unique stories as to how they have come to be part of the art scene. So please join us for a night of … Continue reading #CMTalkSeries: A Look at the San Antonio Art Scene →

The Convergent Media Collective is proud to host: New Media in the 21st Century. We have two guest speakers who work in new media and do cutting edge works. So please join us for a night of fun. Remember CMC talks are meant to be interactive and we encourage questions and dialog. Date: Feb 18th … Continue reading #CMTalkSeries: New Media in the 21st Century →

Converging Texan Cultures was an amazing experience for the Convergent Media Collective.  Working with the Institute of Texan Cultures was a pleasure and we hope to do further collaborations with them in near future. For those who were unable to physically make it to the exhibit, here are some videos of the installation: Also, here … Continue reading Convergening Texas Cultures Concludes at the ITC →

The passing of Cameron directly affected the collective. He will always remain in our hearts. We will always cherish our memory of him and his impact on those lives he’s touched.  Though this year yielded success, every step of the way we worked with the memory of Cameron in our minds. We physically represented him … Continue reading Remembering Cameron Redus →

  The Convergent Media Collective is proud to host the Fall 2014 CMC Talk Series.  The talk series includes a diverse range of speakers and we encourage the public to join us at University of the Incarnate Word. The CMC Talk Series was founded in order to give students and the public at large exposure … Continue reading Fall 2014 Convergent Media Collective Talk Series →

San Antonio – July 20, 2014 – The Institute of Texan Cultures and the Convergent Media Collective proudly present Converging Texan Cultures. This exhibit examines Texan Cultures from a 21st century technological perspective and highlights contemporary themes in Texas architecture, food, and textiles/clothing. You can check out the exhibit at The Institute of Texan Cultures … Continue reading Opening July 26th: Converging Texan Cultures at the UTSA Institute of Texan Cultures →

As a collective, we like to shine the spotlight on those members who have received outside recognition for their efforts in the realm of media and technology. This last academic year, one of our members, Andrew Valdez, received national attention for his social media campaign for Palo Alto College, one of the Alamo Colleges. Andrew … Continue reading CM Spotlight: Andrew Valdez →

One of 10 institutes to receive the “Young Historians, Living Histories” grant from the Smithsonian Institution, the Institute of Texan Cultures in downtown San Antonio set in search of documentarians with a unique understanding of new media and an inherent appreciation of history to help fulfill the program’s goal of encouraging  young historians to “explore and … Continue reading The Convergent Media Collective collaborates with the Smithsonian and ITC →

The Convergent Media Collective is proud to announce Corina Zavala, a member of the collective successfully defended her dissertation on April 29th at the Sanchez building at the University of Texas at Austin.  She is receiving her degree from the Cultural Studies in Education program, housed out of the Curriculum and Instruction Department in the … Continue reading Dr. Corina Zavala – Crystal City Women’s Experiences During the Chicano Movement-Four Women’s Recollection →

In the Summer of 2013, Mark Barnett of VentureLabs approached me about documenting a summer program he was running at Art Pace where VentureLab created Venture Lab Maker Lab.  Along with a grant from Make Magazine, Mark and VentureLab outfitted the lab with STEAM oriented hardware and software such as 3D printers, laser cutters, ipads, … Continue reading Mark Barnett and the Makerspace →

When:  May 7th, 6pm Where:  The Institute of Texan Cultures, 801 César E. Chavez Blvd, San Antonio, TX 78233 The Convergent Media Collective is proud to be co-sponsoring the Convergent Media Showcase with the Institute of Texan Cultures. The event will celebrate the end of the semester with works shown by both undergraduate and graduate students … Continue reading Convergent Media Showcase Spring 2014 →

Some of the bolts from the slide arm package When you first open up the packaging of an automated slide arm, it can be pretty intimidating. It usually consists of the arm itself, the plate, a battery pack, a timer, and a bag full of nuts, bolts, screws, and weird looking little knick knacks. In … Continue reading Automated Slide Arm Tutorial →

In the fall of 2013 we were made aware of STEAM3, a national conference at the University of Texas at Austin. The March 1-2 conference was a future-focused event for all ages to explore multi-dimensional, captivating approaches to the future of education. joey was asked by the conference organizer to be 1 of 20 presenters to … Continue reading The CMC presents at STEAM3 →

One day I was sitting with Mariah Villarreal and we were talking about open education initiatives.  She mentioned wanting to do something big on the topic, she had been talking to Mark Barnett about it as well.  Various ideas were thrown out and next thing I knew she was planning OpenEDJam. As an informal member … Continue reading OpenEdJam →

In the summer of 2013 we were approached by the Institute of Texan Cultures to help them with one of their projects.  They had scheduled a Smithsonian art installation about Native Americans and skateboarding.  Working with local students they developed a program that engaged local and national patrons through student made videos. We helped them … Continue reading RAMP it Up! →

  In February of 2014 Code for America set foot in San Antonio, Texas as an initiative to promote the use of “big data” to encourage the development of technological solutions towards civic engagement and activism.  Throughout the month the CM Collective was able to meetup with Code for America at various events.  The first … Continue reading The CM promotes Code for America →

The convergent media collective was happy to cover the PechaKucha 13 event at the Blue Star Contemporary Art Museum on Feb 25th.  We were made aware of the event by Mary Cantu of spare parts and then found out Doris Palmeros, designer and professor from the CART department at UIW would also be presenting.  It … Continue reading CM supports Mary Cantu and Doris Palmeros at SA PechaKucha 13 →

  The convergent media collective was able to catch up with spare parts and 10bitworks on a collaboration they were throwing called “Take it apart, make art.”  It was an event that merged hacking and art in one swoop.  Attendees took old electronics apart and then used the materials to make art.  The event was … Continue reading Take it apart, make art! →

One of the unique things about our collective is our collaboration. In fact, a key reason we formed was to help each other’s efforts. We saw how we were all working on cool projects and wanted to join forces and go that much further. A wonderful example of that is a collaboration that took place … Continue reading Convergent Media Collective Collaborates on the Boy Made of Lightning →

The Convergent Media Collective came to be because there was a group of students,professionals and makers who were regularly meeting up as friends working on projects for fun.  We collaborated on each other’s projects and helped each other learn new skills. One of the first projects we undertook as a collective was the Bexar County … Continue reading The CMC collaborates with Bexar County’s Bibliotech →

  The Convergent Media Collective has roots that go back decades, although a recently formed group, some of the core members are part of a movement called “ACTLab”. ACTLab started as a program at the University of Texas at Austin where students were assigned to “Make Stuff, Take Risks and Be Awesome”. It was founded … Continue reading The ACTLab Tool Box →

One of the first conferences that came onto our radar was the 2014 SXSW EDU Conference.  The deadline was late July 2013, in the midst of our group coming together. We quickly decided to pitch our philosophy as a talk and put together a team of panelist we felt was well-rounded and representative of the … Continue reading The Convergent Media Collective Applies to 2014 SXSW EDU →

joey has been involved with Boost Logic for nearly five years.  One of the very cool things about Boost Logic is they have always been welcoming to joey and his students to visit and learn about the automotive industry.  In the last three years Zohair Jaffery, owner of Boost Logic, made a critical decision to … Continue reading The CMC collaborates with Boost Logic →

Our Convergent Media Collective members come from a variety of backgrounds and occupations, but what makes our work unique, is how ideas can cross into real world situations and events. That’s exactly what happened when projection mapping was integrated into Palo Alto College’s annual fundraising event also known as Celebracíon. Convergent Media Collective member Andrew … Continue reading PAC Celebracion →

  Sometime during the summer joey received a random phone call from a New York women about collaborating on an east Austin art project.  After some initial back and forth on the details it was decided we would project and DJ outside the venue and bring some “culture” to a “high culture” event. What happened … Continue reading East Austin Gallery Tour- The Getaway Motor →

As the Convergent Media Collective has grown, one of our great collaborators has been Mark Barnett.  Mark is a STEM specialist based out of San Antonio who has worked for many leading curriculum development groups such as Region 20.  He has also been a teacher and is a Maker enthusiast in general.  This past summer … Continue reading Mark Barnett CM Demo Day →

In late July we were asked by Marcos Hernandez to collaborate with his PR company and the San Antonio Food Bank.  The project would be for the “SA Goes Orange” September campaign by the San Antonio Food Bank.  We collaborated with them on some initial productions and helped them produce, shoot and edit some PSA’s … Continue reading Convergent Media Collective collaborates with the San Antonio Food Bank →

Over the past year the Convergent Media collective has been proud to collaborate with Cox Media: “Cox Media Group is an integrated broadcasting, publishing, direct marketing and digital media company that includes the national advertising rep firms of CoxReps. Additionally, CMG owns Cox Target Media, which operates Valpak, one of North America’s leading direct marketing … Continue reading Cox Media Projection Mapping Collaboration →

For those who do not know. TEDx San Antonio, is a TED style conference where thought leaders gather to rethink, re-imagine and share ideas about technology, education, art and more. This year the Convergent Media Collective was asked by TEDx San Antonio to host a demo of our projects and research.  We were happy to … Continue reading The CMC @ TEDx San Antonio →

The Convergent Media Collective worked with Convergent Media I students at UIW this past week.  It was the first ever a class had been taught on projection modeling and demo’ing.  The students were very excited and the collective members were eager to share their demo’s and prototypes we had been working on. The class started … Continue reading CMC Projecting 101 →

We are excited to have you all visit our page.  We will be fleshing it all out with our latest works and initiatives.  So stay tuned! For now, here is a video of our 2013 SXSW Submission: