12 B.C. companies to initiate interactive digital media projects through Creative BC + BC Arts Council Interactive Fund

The Interactive Fund provides artists, societies, creators and creative companies with an opportunity to blaze trails with high-quality digital projects and immersive technologies. Project themes this year span from equity-focused community building apps to poetry, nature and art-focused applications. The Interactive Fund helps support B.C.’s leadership role in this creative industry.

Culture and commerce unite in this collaboration between the BC Arts Council and Creative BC to attract new investment and stimulate creation of B.C.-owned creative intellectual property. It also embodies Creative BC’s actions for equity and inclusion in program delivery.

The following projects are this year’s successful recipients:
 

1.     Afro Van Connect, Ariemei, Vancouver ($50,000)
The Ariemei App connects people of African descent to Black-owned businesses, resources and culturally relevant content in their local community. All users will have access to essential content based on their location and interests. Due to lack of access to virtual spaces and resources many African-descent youth are unaware of the importance of cyber education, data privacy, and tech solutions that can empower them as they navigate digital spaces.
 

2.     Angelic Goldsky, (Trans)gender Expression Haven, Richmond ($50,000)
The (Trans)gender Expression Haven is a virtual performance art venue for transgender, non-binary, Two Spirit, and intersex artists. The project will exhibit, promote, and showcase the creative work of trans+ artists within B.C. and Canada, through the curation of an art game and virtual performance space.
 

3.     Dandilion Wind Opaine, DandiDoesIt, Live Performance Video Game, Vancouver ($50,000)
DandiDoesIt is one of the world’s first live performance video games, integrating extended reality and remote-controlled gameplay by its users through Twitch.
 

4.     Downtown Vancouver Business Improvement Association, The Poetry Phone, Vancouver ($10,000)
As Vancouver’s first on-demand poetry hotline, callers can dial 1-833-POEMS-4-U to listen to poetry recordings provided by 10 local writers, by pressing 0 to 9 to listen to different poems, bringing a new and accessible format of uplifting entertainment to anyone who has felt the social isolation this past year has brought.
 

5.     Go2Productions Inc., Grief Therapy, Vancouver ($50,000)

Grief Therapy is an interactive project for children working through bereavement. Guided by licensed therapists, and in a peer group setting, bereaved children will use large format projected games to help them go through the process of coming to terms with loss.
 

6.     Impact VR Media Ltd., The Interactive Forest, Vancouver ($54,000)
The Interactive Forest is an Immersive educational Dome experience in which audiences explore irreplaceable ancient forest ecosystems, to understand their significance and key threats to their survival.
 

7.     Kreis Experiences Inc., “Launchpad to Imagination”, Vancouver ($50,000)
The experience is manifested in the form of an immersive world designed around consuming VR narrative content as their creators intended. Conceptually designed to be a launchpad to imagination it enables visitors to travel inside the world of a film festival and be transformed as they embark on voyages to worlds of narrative and culture.

8.     Museum of Other Realities, The Canadian Collection, Vancouver ($50,000)
The Canadian Collection is a virtual installation that presents the best of Canadian immersive art, and sits in a bespoke virtual venue designed to reimagine the selected pieces, share stories behind the productions, and augment the visitor experience.

9.     Oridian Entertainment, Whisper Walks, Vancouver ($100,000)
Whisper Walks is an AR-enhanced, location-based adventure game for smart mobile devices. It takes the form of a magical interactive experience for kids and families, bringing fantastic stories, appealing characters, and delightful gameplay to life directly in nature.
 

10.  Podyssey Podcasts, Podyssey Podcasts, Vancouver ($50,000)
Podyssey Podcasts is an interactive web and mobile social network where podcast listeners discover and discuss their favorite podcasts with each other and podcast creators.
 

11.  Sonderlust Studios, Unannounced Narrative Strategy Game ($43,500)
Sonderlust Studios is creating an unconventional narrative simulation strategy game. Set in a solarpunk near future, this currently unannounced title will redefine what emergent narrative and consequential decisions mean for players of sim-strategy games.

12.  Vancouver International Sculpture Biennale, Vancouver Biennale Exhibition App, Vancouver ($50,000)
The Vancouver Biennale Exhibition App provides an easy-to-access, scalable exhibition experience that includes interactive exploration of their public art installations, interactive walking and cycling tours of the exhibition, and new virtual and augmented reality experiences. 

Quotes:

Honourable Melanie Mark, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport
“These projects represent the cutting edge of blending art with technology. From an app to connect with Black-owned businesses to creating a virtual forest in a dome to educate people, these projects are about bringing us closer together. It is so inspiring to see B.C. creators find ingenious ways to entertain and engage us. Now more than ever we need this interactive technology to keep us engaged.” 

Prem Gill, CEO, Creative BC
“Creative BC is proud to partner with the BC Arts Council in support of 12 diverse projects, each of which unites the arts with creative technology in storytelling. The Interactive Fund showcases the exceptional range of talent in B.C.’s interactive and digital media industry, and positions recipients to expand the boundaries of creative media.”

Dr. Sae Hoon Stan Chung, Chair, BC Arts Council

“On behalf of the BC Arts Council, I would like to congratulate the 12 recipients of this year’s Interactive Fund and acknowledge our partnership with Creative BC in supporting projects that exist in the intersection of art and technology. These are projects that provide us with a glimpse of what storytelling and art might look in the future and the diverse voices and experiences that will be represented.”

Media Contact: 
Creative BC
Lisa Escudero
media@creativebc.com
604-730-2235

Learn More:
For more information on the BC Arts Council and Creative BC Interactive Fund, visit: https://creativebc.com/programs/development-funding/interactive-fund

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About Creative BC

Creative BC is an independent society created and supported by the Province to sustain and help grow British Columbia’s creative industries: motion picture, interactive and digital media, music and sound recording, and magazine and book publishing. The society delivers a wide range of programs and services with a mandate to expand B.C.’s creative economy. These activities include: administration of the provincial government’s motion picture tax credit programs; delivery of program funding and export marketing support for the sector; and provincial film commission services. Combined, these activities serve to attract inward investment and market B.C. as a partner and destination of choice for domestic and international content creation. The society acts as an industry catalyst and ambassador to help B.C.’s creative sector reach its economic, social, environmental and creative potential both at home and globally. Website: www.creativebc.com

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. Website: www.bcartscouncil.ca