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12 BC COMPANIES TO INITIATE DIGITAL MEDIA PROJECTS THROUGH BC ARTS COUNCIL – CREATIVE BC COLLABORATION

Apr 4, 2017

VANCOUVER B.C. (March 28, 2017) – Today, the BC Arts Council and Creative BC are pleased to announce the recipients of the latest round of funding through their Interactive Fund partnership. This juried grant will deliver $572,000 to 12 successful B.C. companies that will leverage the funds for development of their original, creative, interactive digital media and software applications.

This marks the seventh round of funding through this increasingly competitive program, which contributes to B.C.’s culture of growth in technical creative innovation. The Interactive Fund serves the Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development’s Creative Economy Strategy, the BC Arts Council’s Strategic Plan, and Creative BC’s strategic objectives as the economic development agency for B.C.’s creative industries. Through strategic collaboration, culture and commerce are uniting to grow the creative economy, attract new investment, and stimulate the creation of new jobs and career opportunities in B.C.

British Columbia is recognized as a hub for digital entertainment and the province attracts large global media companies. Hundreds of smaller B.C.-owned companies are flourishing, creating everything from innovative video games, mobile apps, virtual reality and augmented reality, to animation, visual effects, social media, interactive marketing and e-learning tools, all of which are part of the creative industries that Creative BC serves.

The following individuals are this year’s successful recipients, and each will receive a grant of up to $50,000 for the development of their submitted projects:

  1. Agents of Discovery, Kelowna ($50,000)
    Discovery Agents Portal is a move-to-learn mobile game that teaches kids about the natural world through interactive experiences.
  2. Electric Company Theatre, Vancouver ($35,000)
    A suite of five virtual reality shorts by Electric Company Theatre as part of its new film/theatre hybrid production, A Good Death. Enter the story from behind the eyes of the characters.     
  3. Hololabs Studio Inc, Victoria ($50,000)
    Wollstonecraft Detective Agency Online: Wollstonecraft.com is the portal to a girl-powered adventure series featuring Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley in books, games, puzzles and more. 
  4. Luminawesome Games Ltd., Vancouver ($50,000)
    Lumote: A tough, beautiful, glow-in-the-dark puzzle platform.    
  5. Mashup Machine Inc., Vancouver ($50,000)
    Whatever!: Films re-imagined as an interactive create-your-own-story game for the Snapchat generation. Follow the narrative, or create and share your own.
  6. Monkey C Interactive, Victoria ($37,000)
    Sonic LED Tiles area modular, multi-user interactive system of illuminated playable tiles that allow users to create music and play games.
  7. Paisley Smith, Vancouver ($50,000)
    Unceded Territory VR: Lawrence P. Yuxweluptun and director Paisley Smith take you to a colourful, bold, interactive art world in virtual reality.        
  8. PWRFL, Vancouver ($50,000)
    Lightwork empowers artists to think outside the grid with their LED creations. It's a public installation, a free software framework and an education platform.      
  9. Stephanie Khoury, Victoria ($50,000)  
    Mubric is a touch-based interactive listening system that uses real-time feedback and gamification to learn music.         
  10. The Goggles, Vancouver ($50,000)
    Chasing The Sun is an immersive online story about climate change, the Arctic, and how an uncertain future arrives here first.    
  11. The Mindful Garden, Vancouver ($50,000)
    The Mindful Garden software/hardware platform supports positive health outcomes for patients with dementia/delirium.
  12. Voxiter Technologies Inc., Vancouver ($50,000)
    Signl.fm is the world’s first transcript-enabled podcast player for easy sharing and accessibility.

Honourable Peter Fassbender, Minister of Community, Sport and Cultural Development: “Artistic skill and creative activity are integral to B.C.’s creative economy. These 12 Interactive Fund recipients exemplify the social, cultural and economic value of supporting creative workers, including those in our tech sector. Congratulations to all!”

Honourable Shirley Bond, Minister of Jobs, Tourism, and Skills Training and Minister Responsible for Labour: “British Columbia’s digital media sector is growing, thanks to the hard work of the approximately 16,000 people working in areas like video games, visual effects, software development, and animation.  The Interactive Fund is a great example of how innovation in the creative sector is opening the door for new opportunities, and I look forward to seeing the unique and creative projects that these successful recipients design.”

Merla Beckerman, Chair, BC Arts Council: “The BC Arts Council is pleased to partner with Creative BC again this year with a program that spurs interactive and digital media innovation through multi-disciplinary collaborations. It is inspiring to see how effectively artistic excellence combines with technology in these projects to benefit British Columbians.”

Prem Gill, CEO, Creative BC: “The Interactive Fund is intent on supporting creative courage across B.C.’s digital and interactive media industry. It’s essential to our global competitiveness that we foster imagination, experimentation and encourage cross-sector networking within the creative economy.”

For more information on the Interactive Fund, visit Creative BC’s website at creativebc.com.

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About BC Arts Council

The BC Arts Council supports arts and cultural activity in communities across the province. From professional dance companies, to art galleries, local museums and music festivals – the council works to support artistic excellence and to enrich the lives of all British Columbians. Drawing upon the expertise of B.C.’s arts and culture community to provide an independent peer-review adjudication process, the council supports a range of activities that includes funding for professional artists and arts organizations, community initiatives, training and scholarships.

About Creative BC

Creative BC is an independent society created and supported by the Province of BC to sustain and help grow BC’s creative sector (film and television, digital and interactive media, music, and magazine and book publishing industries). The society delivers a wide range of programs and  services to expand BC’s creative economy. These include the administration of the provincial government’s tax credit programs for film and television; development funding and export marketing support; and motion picture production services to attract inward investment and  market BC as a destination for domestic and international production. The society acts as an industry catalyst and ambassador to help BC’s creative sector reach its economic and creative potential both at home and globally.

Stay up to date with initiatives from Creative BC.

  • Twitter: @creativebcs
  • Facebook: /creativebcs
  • Instagram: @creativebcs
  • Website: www.creativebc.com

Ministry of Community, Sport and Cultural Development:
250 356-6334

Creative BC Media Contact:
Lindsay Nahmiache
lindsay@jivecommunications.ca
604 889-7996

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