Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. I'd like to echo what Gilles just said about the importance of the virtual piece. I was just in Colombia a few weeks ago visiting Centro Audiovisual Medellín. It's incredible because they very much are a creative hub, and I saw all these different creators working tog

Canadian Heritage committee  Start-up, for us in the interactive digital media space, often begins with two people creating a company, versus a lone artist. For instance, it could be an actual designer with a coder, who create their first pieces of IP. To be able to scale up from that one project they've don

Canadian Heritage committee  That's right. That's what we find. The minute there's a supportive environment, where the artists are able to find each other and collaborate together, all of a sudden there is more opportunity for the company to grow and to become more viable—and for discoverability, at the end

Canadian Heritage committee  I think from the federal perspective, it's about providing support and partnership between the private side and all levels of government. We've seen start-up examples that have been very successful. In the case of Innovate Niagara, for example, you have federal money, provincial

Canadian Heritage committee  That's perfect. I have one minute left. Thank you. Without this third version of a cultural hub, IDM creative entrepreneurs are working in less than ideal spaces. There are for-profit collaborative spaces that allow them to get the job done but cost more than a non-profit cultur

Canadian Heritage committee  Thank you. Good morning. Bonjour. My name is Christa Dickenson. I am the president and CEO of Interactive Ontario, a non-profit non-partisan trade association representing over 340 companies in Ontario's interactive digital media industry. Our members produce a variety of inter