Digital Arts Projects Bring Kids Recognition

The Glen Cove Boys & Girls Club last week announced the two local winners of the Club Tech Digital Arts Festival, where members submit technology projects in a worldwide contest.

Danny Ortiz, 11, and Nia Duckett, 8, were the first-round winners in Glen Cove. They each received a $50 gift certificate to Best Buy and will advance to compete for the national title and a $500 prize and trip.

"I love computers and art and I love when I get to do both," said Ortiz. He won in the Photo Illustration category for his graphic design, "An Animation in the Mind."

Duckett won for her music and a piece entitled "A.W.E.S.O.M.E."

"It's so exciting to win something for what I made,” she said.

The local competition is part of a Club-wide "ongoing, international celebration of
Boys & Girls Club members’ digital innovation" open to all members between the ages of 6-18. They used skills they learned through their activities at the Club.

Categories are clay animation, robotics, game design, digital movie making, photo illustration, music production and graphic and Web design.

Matt Gagliardi is the technology instructor at the Glen Cove Boys & Girls Club. 

“It is amazing what our members have been able to do with technology when encouraged to engage in artistic expression and share their ideas and creativity with their friends and fellow Club members. We recognize the digital medium is a major part of today’s youth culture, and instead of just playing video and online games
or dazedly surfing the net, I’m thrilled we can offer our members this opportunity to explore their creative side and inspire them to think about becoming future designers, game developers and filmmakers in their own right, and to be able to do so in a carefully managed social and interactive setting," he said.

To learn more about the technology programs at Glen Cove Boys & Girls Club, contact Gagliardi at mgagliardi@glencovebgc.org, or call the Club at 516-671-8030.

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