Our team is unique ~ because we bring together many facets of the Austin arts scene to form something fully collaborative. When they’re not creating alongside Art Island, it’s no surprise that our team are thought leaders in their own industries!
Our Summer Fridays series puts a spotlight on our core team members and what they do when they’re “off” from Art Island events and “on” in their personal life. Tune in every week for a local profile and a day-long stories takeover!
This week, we’re riding alongside Lauren Schroeder, our head of tech! Onsite, she’s coding programs and creating audio tracks and making sure all electronics are running, but outside of Art Island, she works 9-5 behind the scenes as a virtual reality engineer as well as doing things like making music and midi keyboards for fun (so rad!).
Click the images above or scroll down to read more about Lauren (@loschroe) and how she’s staying busy this summer, and tune into her Instagram stories takeover! Give her a follow to keep up to date on her work. Interview follows as text:
What do you do at art island?
I lead the design and production of unique tech-based installations that we can bring to Art Island events. We use a variety of technologies to incorporate more ways for people to interact with pieces, as well as generating specific aesthetics.
Favorite memory at an art island event?
Seeing everyone’s work come together into an awesome party. I’ve had some great moments catching up with friends while watching a crazy fire performance and sending text messages to our interactive projection.
What’s keeping you busy work-wise this summer?
I work as a web and backend engineer at a VR sports-training startup called WIN Reality. We have a lot of talented people changing the way people can develop professional-level baseball/softball skills in virtual reality.
What are your creative goals for the season?
I’ve recently been playing around with tools like Blender to work with 3D art and assets. It’d be fun to collaborate with more artists and technologists on small projects - feel free to reach out if you have an idea or want to get involved with art island!
What’s your ideal friday night in Austin look like?
Out and about - I’m usually looking for interesting events (with music and art) that I can combine with dinner/drinks with friends. Austin’s a fun place to explore.
What community do you admire and we should scope out in Austin?
dadageek is a great school for anyone looking to learn more about interactive or artistic technologies. I recently took an online class during quarantine called Expressive Interfaces (lead by Matt Steinke). It was a good way to learn new techniques and see other people working on projects they were excited about.