If you live in the northeastern US, and have an interest in the indie game scene and it's developing relevancy
in the art world, you may want to check out this year's upcoming Connecticut Film Festival. In addition to the
usual 6 days and nights of independent film, music, parties, and workshops, this year marks the first time that
videogames will featured and explored as an artistic medium. The conference's mission statement is to focus
on "...Web, Animation, Advocacy, Gaming and Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in a non-
consumerist mindset."
Billed as the "Connecticut Interactive Festival and Conference", the program take place on Thursday, June
4th at the Danbury Arena and other nearby venues. The itinerary looks pretty varied, and should have
something interesting for those interested in indie game development, as well as those who just like to play
and find the medium interesting in and of itself. They are touting hands-on workshops for all skill levels, panel
discussions, "free gaming" and presenters and exhibitors from across the country. Some of the activities
include:

Post Mortem: Ninja Town: So cute, it might just kill you!
(A general workshop with Katy Smith of Venan Ent.)

Why You Can't Control a Movie with a Joystick
(A familiar topic with panelist Nikita Mikros of Tiny Mantis Ent. Will essentially focus on techniques to highlight
game elements without breaking the experience i.e. loss of editorial control)

Interactive Artist Fundraising 101
(How to raise money for indie games, duh.)

Experimental Electronic Music 101 w/ Danbury's Burnkit 2600
(chiptunes!)

Keynote Address with Eric Zimmerman: In the Future, Everyone will be a Game Designer
(Founder of Gamelab, Gamestar Mechanic, and Institute of Play on the wider relevance of games to culture
and the "new literacy")

The entire schedule for the interactive portion of the festival can be found here:

http://ctfilmfest.bside.com/2009/schedule/week/type/interactive

If you are interested in the rest of the doins' that'll be a-transpirin', the festival itself runs from June 2-7, and
will include 138 indie films, 70 musical performances, 100 workshops, keynote speakers, and roundtable
discussions relating to film, music, social and interactive meida, screenwriting, and probably a bunch of other
stuff. You do need to register for tickets, and as far I know, tickets for the general festival will run between $7
and $9. Pricing for the interactive tickets is unknown, but I should be able to update in a couple of hours.