William Culbertson

As the founder of Whooplah LLC, Bill is committed to creating family-fun entertainment that helps parents meet and exceed their parenting goals. An experienced video game designer and developer, he recently released the large-scale video game environment portal, Pollywog Pond, for early learners. The game was nominated for a 2019 Kidscreen Award “Best New Video Game -Original.” The game is being developed into a children’s television series for national distribution, a co-production with RI PBS.

A graduate of Towson University in Maryland, Bill earned a Master of Art in Art Education degree from The Rhode Island School of Design. Commercially, Bill began his career at Hasbro, Inc. as an industrial designer in Research & Design. Within a short time, he was made Director of the Sculpture Department, guiding the company’s popular toy lines such as G.I. Joe and My Little Pony. Moving into the freelance community, Bill developed a nationwide clientele including manufacturers, theme parks and cruise lines. Specializing in licensed characters he has extensive experience working with such clients as The Walt Disney Company, Jim Henson Company, Sesame Street Workshop, Nickelodeon and others. As an inventor, Bill is responsible for numerous toy concepts and designs. Additionally, Bill has created and produced the award-winning puppet show, “Li’l Rhody!” for Rhode Island PBS.

As a fine artist, Bill has been recognized internationally for his sculptural work through numerous large-scale public art works world-wide, including most recently, a memorial to Jim Henson in Hyattsville, Maryland. He has the distinction of being named a Copley Master Artist by the Copley Society of Boston. A Professor at New England Institute of Technology, Bill is a faculty member of the University’s nationally ranked Video Game Development and Design Department. With over eighteen years of post-secondary teaching experience, Bill’s teaching emphasis is in 3D modeling, animation and game development.