Co-founder of Sanctuary Appointed As Academic Director of Art Institute Vancouver
Vancouver – One of the co-founders of the award winning science fiction show Sanctuary is bringing his gaming talents back to the classroom. The Art Institute of Vancouver is proud to welcome Marc Aubanel as Academic Director of Game Art and Design and Visual Games Programming.
Marc, originally from Montreal, took Communication Studies at Concordia University, On relocating to Vancouver in 1992, the lifelong hockey fan channeled this passion as Online Editor for the Canucks magazine, Winning Spirit. At an exciting, up and coming time for the gaming world, Marc found himself drawn to the industry and joined Electronic Arts Canada (EA), the largest 3rd party games publisher in the world. Marc spent 13 years and worked his way to vice president / executive
producer, working on such video games as chart breaking FIFA and Need for Speed Underground producing over 50 SKU’s for revenues generating more than a billion dollars.
Marc left EA around the same time as Damien Kindler left his role as co-executive producer on the hit show Stargate and they formed Vancouver based production company and full service visual effects house, Stage 3 Media. Deciding that there must be a better way of making entertainment in the new, emerging electronics market, they set about creating the first broadcast quality, High Definition dramatic series designed specifically for the internet, combining live actors and CG sets and backgrounds. In 2006 the web based series Sanctuary was born.
The success of the series led the show to be picked up by The Sci-Fi Channel in the US and it premiered at the start of October 2008 to critical and popular acclaim. The show was recently awarded a Guinness World Record for “Highest Budget Television Production Direct to the Web”
A combination of work opportunities and an interest in travel have taken Marc all over the world, to cities such as Tokyo, Korea, New York, London, Paris & Milan to name but a few. He also has a passion for driving, which he indulges by taking epic road trips through such destinations as San Francisco and Los Angeles.
In his new role at The Art Institute of Vancouver, Marc is especially driven towards “helping students to find great positions in the industry and to pushing the art form forward.” He remains engaged with and intrigued by his chosen field, “Gaming is still in its infancy compared to other industries; it’s hard to predict, and there are many more incredible breakthroughs to come – that’s what makes it so exciting.”