On episode 47 of the Nooze Hounds podcast, we talked to Michael Zytkow, co-founder of Potions & Pixels, about his evolution from activist to gaming event planner to nonprofit leader.
Most recently, Zytkow spearheaded the efforts to launch KnowCLT, an app his team created for Levine Museum of the New South that implements augmented reality and other technological aspects to allow users to experience Brooklyn, once the largest and most storied Black community in North Carolina. We recently wrote more in-depth about the app and what it means for the changing mission of Levine Museum.
During the podcast, we went back nearly a decade to Zytkow’s role in Occupy Charlotte, tracing his steps through a city council run to the founding of Potions & Pixels and the organization’s transition from gaming event series to a nonprofit that aims to increase civic engagement and empathy through gaming.
We discussed a few projects that Queen City Nerve has reported on in the past, including a board game the team helped develop to increase engagement with the city’s creation of the Charlotte Future 2040 Comprehensive Plan, as well as a workforce development program led by Potions & Pixels in partnership with Abari Game Bar and other local companies. We also discussed Trash Dash CLT, an app Potions & Pixels recently developed in partnership with the city’s Solid Waste Services department.
Zytkow was even nice enough to break some news on the podcast, letting us in on some future plans for an AR walking trail from the West End to the North End, new plans for youth camps, and where Potions & Pixels stands in its hunt for a brick-and-mortar location. Just remember where you heard it first.
Remember you can catch us on Spotify and other places where you find podcasts, and be sure to check out Queen City Podcast Network for a slew of other great Charlotte podcasts that aren’t quite as good as ours but pretty damn close. Find past Nooze Hounds episodes here.
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