Human ingenuity is an amazing thing. As the world’s “normal” is ravaged by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, many have stepped up to provide the necessary creativity to help ease our sufferings. One element that is often overlooked are graduations for the countless senior classes throughout the globe. A group of students from the University Of California Berkeley won’t let the pandemic ruin all their fun and used their ingenuity to create a celebration for their senior class, as well as, anyone willing to tune into the festivities. That such event is Blockeley University, a two-day celebration taking place in the world of Minecraft.
Blockeley University begins with a virtual graduation held at Memorial Stadium, which is an exact replica of the real UC Berkeley football stadium. It will include commencement speeches from UC Berkeley’s Chancellor Carol Christ, Vice-Chancellor Marc Fisher, Mojang’s Chief Storyteller Lydia Winters, CEO of THX Min-Liang Tan, and the co-founder of Twitch, Justin Kan. Attending seniors will be able to don graduation caps and gowns. At the end of the ceremony, they will even have the option to toss their caps in the air providing a nice substitute to the real thing. The two-days of fun begin tomorrow, May 16th at 4 PM PST and continues May 17th at 10 AM PST on OS Studio’s Twitch Channel or inside the mc.blockeley.com Minecraft server where you can participate with your own avatar.
After the graduation ceremonies, attendees will have the ability to celebrate at the music festival and traverse around the digital Berkeley landscape. The two-days of music will see a global field of electronic acts provide an array of ravetastic sets that will help ease our tensions during these times. The acts that have been confirmed as participants are Sam Feldt, Cash Cash, Vini Vici, Bakermat, Michael Calfan, Brooks, EDX, Dannic, BEAUZ, SIHK, and over 40 more artists.
The original idea for Blockeley was born from the minds of Elliot Choi and Luis Juarez who brought aboard Nick Pickett and Bjorn Lustic and a team of volunteer engineers to construct a 1:1 scale replica of the Berkeley campus. Their idea and creation soon exploded into what we see today, which saw them partner with OS Studios to produce and execute the event.
Others involved with the project include BEAUZ and his team who helped to bring aboard the musical talent and brand partners, which includes RAZER, Musical Freedom, and NBC. The whole event promises to be an extraordinary celebration in the world of Minecraft. All proceeds will go to the COVID-19 Relief Fund.
You can RSVP to Blockeley here. To view, the festival on twitch follow the link here and to participate in the fun on Minecraft go to server at this address: mc.blockeley.com. For more information and the previous links please go to the Blockeley website found here.
