Thank you, Mr. Chair and members of the committee, and good afternoon.
Thank you for inviting us here.
My name is Max Berdowski. I'm executive director of the Canadian Screen Training Centre, le Réseau d'ateliers cinématographiques canadiens. I'm pleased that Marc Robitaille could join me today. He's a top screenwriter. He's led our French screenwriting training workshops for our students.
The Canadian Screen Training Centre, le Réseau d'ateliers cinématographiques canadiens, is based here in Ottawa and is this country's first national training program for film and television. Our founder, Mr. Tom Shoebridge, is with us here.
CSTC/RACC training has launched and supported the development of countless careers. Our graduates are among Canada's top screen professionals and include the Academy Award-winning Denise Robert, the producer of Les invasions barbares. We provide emerging filmmakers with a truly unique opportunity to interact and learn from the best in the business. Our instructors are the creators behind Bon Cop, Bad Cop, the Oscar-nominated Water, Shake Hands with the Devil, The Border, and I could go on and on.
In what Dr. Richard Florida has dubbed the creative age, he writes that prosperity requires investments to be made, in people and our infrastructure. He writes that our goal must be to harness and use our full creative talents in order to grow the businesses of the future, that we must build the talent and education system attuned to the demands of the global creative economy. Well, film and television jobs are exactly the types of creativity-oriented occupations he's referring to. Why? Because creative business is big business.
The Conference Board of Canada examined the impact of culture on our community. They valued it at $84 billion. It's an economic powerhouse, and this is no time to scale back on its support--quite the contrary. How else can we nurture and grow these highly valued jobs if not through professional, industry-focused training programs such as those offered by dedicated, not-for-profit training institutes like ours? A vibrant creative industry behoves support no less than any other industry, and it's training that provides this needed support.
Film- and television-makers must be trained, not just in time but by anticipating trends. Rapid change demands rapid responses, and a training institute like ours has a demonstrated capability to do just that. We're knowledgeable of the industry's needs and nimble and responsive in delivering our programming. CSTC/RACC instructors work every day in the industry and keep us attuned to its evolving needs.
As an industry, film and television is highly labour-based. In fact, half of all production expenditures go to its workers, our students. Failing to invest in their training is akin to failure to invest in any industry's future.
Our organization is one of four that comprises the national training program in the film and video sector, which will be terminated at the end of this month. NTPFVS funding of $200,000 annually constitutes 40% of our budget. In today's economic climate, replacing this has proven to be quite challenging. Our traditional funders, the country's broadcasters, are undergoing financial stresses of their own and inform us they are unable to fill the gap. Unless this critical core funding is replaced, we will close our doors in perhaps a year's time.
With the modest annual investment received from government we have been delivering highly accessible, top-calibre training to 500 students yearly right across the country. Furthermore, CSTC/RACC is a leader in diversity training for the industry, with fully 25% of our students coming from diverse cultural backgrounds. After 29 years, CSTC/RACC training has earned its well-established reputation as a premier training ground for the next generation of this country's creative film- and television-making talent, talent this industry will surely need if it is to survive today's challenges and flourish.
Training is not a luxury; it is vital. Without it, the future of this particularly creative industry will be severely compromised.
Marc.