When we started, we did not have an operating budget. We have not had one for 10 years. We designed quite a creative way that allows us to find funding and obtain partnerships, a clientele, if you will, in the municipal sector but sometimes also in the private sector, by organizing events.
In a sense, we did the opposite, that is to say that we did not wait to have an operating budget and the possibility of occupying a building as tenants. We have no physical location. We just have an office. Our space is the public space. After 10 years, we want to move to the next stage, that is to say, to have a space where we can create. As I was saying, we have an operating budget of $5,000 and a budget for fixed costs of approximately $150,000 per year. I have to go and find contracts. In that context of self-funding, we really have to find original and creative ways of doing things. Earlier, I started to talk about the fire station that we are perhaps looking at using. We also have to rent space for other artists, with all the equipment they need. Equipment and storage are in great demand. That brings self-funding to us.
We cannot open a café, since the location is not really open to the public because of the regulations. We want to try to monetize our creative space and to not depend on grants. Grants are fragile because it is always possible for them to be taken away. That would be signing our death warrant.