In April 2024, Emily Carr University’s Basically Good Media Lab (BGML) launched the Basically Fun Media Lounge – a project led by BGML’s research assistants to create a space where students, artists, and community can engage in educational and creative collaborations.
Created by NMSA alumnus and research assistant Myles Feltenberger as a place to meet up with other students and exchange ideas/practices, the Lounge promotes extra-curricular meetings and activities that offer cost-free opportunities to engage with new media research, experimental artistic processes/practices, and networking across multiple fields of art + design.
By inviting research assistants to coordinate and host these events, the BGML fosters leadership opportunities and professional development among students, preparing them for future academic, community and industry roles. Giving voice to a diverse team of new media artists, this approach ensures an environment attuned to new ideas in immersive media, technology-mediated artistic processes, sound art and experimental composition.
In 2024/2025, the Basically Fun Media Lounge is responsible for two main event series: the Presenters’ Series, and the Makers Meetup.
Credit: Rafael Zen
BFML Presenters Series – Sharing knowledge with peers
For artists enrolled in undergraduate and graduate programs, one of the biggest career challenges may be having a space dedicated to networking and creating partnerships with artists from the local scene while co-creating the local cultural community. By establishing connections with other emerging creators, students may enhance their learning experience and early career opportunities.
The Presenters Series is a space where research assistants + students share their creative process, research, and inspirations. Organized with artist presentations that show works-in-progress and artistic/theoretical references, the series brings local creatives together by demystifying creative process, showing how emerging artists engage with new media and sound art in real-life-situations.
“In the Presenters Series, I can see how peers from the local art community present and contextualize their practice, and I can ask them questions that will help me take my own practice further. I think it’s important to have a space where we can discover new artistic methods, and meet people from the art community”, said NMSA student and research assistant Khalil Alomar.
Between 2024/2025, these were the artists highlighted: Kyla Dooley – Not That Kind Of Conceptual Artist (April 2024); Myles Veltenhil – Sampling and Synthesis (May 2024); and Asad Aftab – Rethinking Immersive Content (May 2024).
The series happens according to artists’ availability. Interested audiences can follow the BGML’s Instagram account (@ecugoodmedia) to stay updated with future opportunities.
Credit: Rafael Zen
BFML Makers Meetup – Collaborative experimentation with new media and sound art
The second series organized and hosted by the Basically Fun Media Lounge is called Makers Meetup, a space where artists and community can gather to experiment with artistic exercises and creative prompts.
Designed for stimulating discussion, creativity + innovation through spontaneous and playful activities, the lounge is thought of as a low-pressure environment that encourages collective risk-taking and experimentation, welcoming not only RAs and students but also community members.
Fostering a supportive creative network, this series strengthens relationships between the BGML and its broader community, promoting collaborative research and experimentation while bringing multiple communities to engage and dialogue.
Between 2024/2025, these meetups were hosted at the BGML: Crow Gifts (May 2024).
The Team
Currently, the Basically Fun Media Lounge is organized by research assistants: Thomas “Myles Veltenhill” Feltenberger, Kyla Dooley, Khalil Alomar, Rafael Zen, Asad Aftab, Logan Wilkinson, and Vincent Isabel.
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Follow the BGML’s Instagram account (@ecugoodmedia) to stay updated with future opportunities.
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Credit / Main Photo: Khalil Alomar
