YouTube Opens Applications For VR Creator Lab In London, Announces Oculus Quest App

In an effort to continue making virtual reality content as accessible as possible, YouTube is taking applications for the seventh iteration of its VR Creator Lab, and will also roll out a YouTube app on Oculus’ newest headset, the Quest.

The platform announced today it’s currently accepting applications from creators who want to attend a three-month VR Creator Lab course that will sharpen their VR production skills. Creators must have at least 100,000 subscribers and no current copyright or community guidelines strikes on their channels.

The lab, which is being run in partnership with VR production company VRScout, begins with a three-day boot camp from June 25 to 27 at YouTube Space London. It will feature workshops, coaching, and pre-production support from top VR instructors and filmmakers (their names have not been released), and events to help creators get to know one another, YouTube says.

Participating creators will also receive one of Google’s VR-specific VR180 cameras and $20,000 to fund the projects they’ll create over the three months following the boot camp. During those three months, each creator will produce at least four piece of original VR content, with YouTube providing cameras and audio gear, stages, and ongoing mentorship from experts.

All videos produced during the lab will be published on creators’ YouTube channels by Sept. 30.

The application window for this lab closes May 20. Those interested can apply here.

As for the Oculus Quest, when it launches May 21 for $399, YouTube’s app will be an official launch title, the platform said. YouTube is already available on a number of other VR rigs, but this is its first time as a VR launch title. It rolled out to Oculus’ popular low-cost headset, the Go ($199), back in September 2018. It’s also available on Oculus’ biggest rig, the Rift ($529), along with HTC Vive, Playstation VR, Samsung Gear VR, and Google’s Daydream View.

YouTube added that there are currently more than one million VR titles in its library, and that a number of YouTube-exclusive titles have won major awards. Winners include Crow: The Legend VR, which nabbed several Emmys (and stars YouTube darling Liza Koshy), and the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory‘s first 360-degree video, which livestreamed on YouTube and won an Emmy for ‘Outstanding Original Interactive Program.’

Header image from VRScout.