Home 5 Sector

B.C.’s Creative Sector

#BCCreates our stories and our creative economy.

Sector

Knowledge Hub

Discover industry contacts, program recipients, productions shooting and more.

News

Nominations Now Open for the 8th Annual Live Music Industry Awards

Members of the Canada/Northern Turtle Island-based live music industry are eligible to make nominations for the 2024 Live Music Industry Awards. Categories encompass venues, buyers, agents, production managers, and other industry roles. Nominations close on March 22,...

British Columbia is a global leader in content creation and production. The province’s creators and creative companies bring a perspective that is distinctively west coast Canadian to the world of storytelling across all forms of media – from television and theatre screen, to smart phone, game console, e-reader, streaming platform, and printed page.

B.C.’s creative industries and their respective membership associations are supported and united through Creative BC services. They showcase their combined capacity, talent, and strength under the #BCCreates banner, and are well-positioned to seize growing opportunity in an expanding international marketplace that is hungrier than ever for new stories.

Demand for creative products across an evolving suite of delivery platforms is a significant driver of B.C.’s creative economy. Use of mobile, increased streaming, and advancing digital technologies have transformed the industries, challenged business models, and offered new possibilities for content producers. Each of the industries has unique drivers and needs, but all of them must continue to be entrepreneurial as they create, innovate, adapt, and discover new ways to monetize their products. Learn about the 9 Enabling Factors of a thriving creative economy.

Recent Impacts

CIERA™ 2022 – Learn more and see a note on Total Jobs and People.

Total GDP in B.C.

Est. People incl. freelancers

Direct Output in B.C.

Total Jobs

Economic impacts of B.C.’s creative sector are tracked each year by bringing public datasets from Statistics Canada into our story. The bespoke measurement tool that delivers these insights was designed through Creative BC research. Named the Creative Industries Economic Results Assessment (CIERAâ„¢), the tool launched 2019 numbers to deliver consistent, comparable and reliable measurements annually for each industry and for the sector overall. Three indicators – Total GDP, Direct Output and Total Jobs – are reported each year using a methodology based entirely on Statistics Canada public datasets.

Complementing CIERAâ„¢ insights are real-time research and reports generated by the industries themselves. Together, these lenses form a more informed picture of the industries’ current state.

The Industries We Serve

Upstart + Crow

Book Publishing

British Columbia is the second-largest English language book publishing region in Canada.

Shocap Entertainment

Interactive + Digital Media

Canada’s second-largest video game production hub, British Columbia is also North America’s second-largest AR/VR centre.

Folklife Magazine

Magazine Publishing

B.C. has close to 300 publications reflecting the perspective, lifestyle, spirit and aesthetic of our province.

Bardel Entertainment, Photo by Darren Hull

 Motion Picture

British Columbia is one of North America’s largest film and TV hubs, creating the world’s top live-action and animated productions.

Public Disco, Image of Yu Su

Music + Sound Recording

B.C. is Canada’s third-largest music production centre with a signature west coast community vibe.

DreamCraft Attractions

  Multi-Creative Industry

B.C.’s talented creators and creative companies are multi-skilled, and many professionals and businesses service a number of industries within this convergent sector.

Meet British Columbia's Creators

#BCCreates tells the story of B.C.’s storytellers.

Image: Unicorn Code