DigiBC is developing a new pilot program to provide work placement opportunities in the Creative Tech sector, supported by the Province of British Columbia. This exciting new initiative will create student placements within animation, visual effects, and XR companies across BC.
Offering new tailored resources for students and employers alike, the program will help students build successful careers in Creative Tech, while also supporting employers in hiring talented students. Further details about the new program will be available in late May. Stay tuned! 👀
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To cap off Creative Technology Day, we’d like to highlight and acknowledge a few of the major awards and accolades that some of our members have received within the last year! 👏👏👏
Atomic Cartoons • 2023 Kidscreen Hot50: Production Companies (#3)
DNEG • Oppenheimer // Best Visual Effects (Critics Choice Awards)
• The Last of Us // Outstanding Special Visual Effects In A Season Or A Movie (Emmy Awards)
Doberman Pictures (Garnet Syberg-Olsen) • Not Quite Narwhal // Best Art Direction Animation Series (Leo Awards) Framestore • Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3; Rocket // Outstanding Animated Character In A Photoreal Feature (VES Awards)
Sony Pictures Imageworks // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse • 7 x Annie Awards 2024
• 4 x Visual Effects Society Awards 2024
• Named 2nd Best Animated Movie of the 21st Century (IndieWire)
Think Tank Training Centre • The Rookies - 2023 School Rankings: Game Design & Development (#3), Visual Effects (#4),
Top 50 Global Schools (#7), 3D Animation (#8)
Timbre Games • Best Mid-Sized Companies (50-200 Employees) // Best Places to Work Canada 2023
Titmouse • 2023 Kidscreen Hot50: Production Companies (#7)
Versatile Media
• New Air // 2 x Silver Awards: Visionary Use of Technology in Short Film & Innovative Sound Experience (Portland Festival of Cinema, Animation & Technology)
WildBrain Studios • 2023 Kidscreen Hot50: Broadcasting (#10), Distribution (#5), Licensing (#4), Digital Media (#4)
• The Snoopy Show, Ninjago, Snoopy Presents: Lucy’s School // 4 x Leo Awards
• Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie // Best Special Production (Annie Awards)
DigiBC member Strawberry Fields Interactiveannounced last week that Aexia is now available for early access on Steam. Aexia is a platform for creating, sharing and playing VR role-playing games. They also recently received some great coverage from industry reviewer, Matteo311."We're checking out a truly unique VR experience. I've never tried anything exactly like Aexia. While this free-to-play title is still in early access, it already has excellent world building, role-playing and social interactions."
Gain Mentorship. Make Connections. Showcase Your Work.
Signals is back from September 27 to October 6, and this year we’re excited to unveil the Signals XR Producer’s Lab! 💡
This is a unique platform for those dedicated to XR, virtual production, and immersive storytelling, providing the necessary structure, tools and support to innovate, network, and showcase world-class projects at the 2024 Signals Creative Technology Expo.
👉 If you are a mid-career producer with a project already in development, or an early-career producer looking for hands-on learning, apply to the Signals XR Producer’s Lab and join a supportive and structured program surrounded by mentors and fellow innovators.
Spread the word and submit your application byApril 18, 2024to be a part of this exciting opportunity!
DigiBC member Think Tank Training Centre has once again partnered with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Access Canada to sponsor five selected artists from underrepresented communities in Canada with full-time tuition to Think Tank’s online 3D art program, CG Asset Creation for Film or Games. This is designed to teach students how to layer essential technical skills with original artistic ideas, master real-world software, and develop an industry-ready portfolio. Highly personalized, hands-on and entirely online, the program helps young artists gain the crucial skills and connections needed to launch a rewarding career in the entertainment industry.
Scholarship Details:
• Applications are open from March 18 (9:00am EST) until April 19 (8:59pm EST)
• Five applicants selected as recipients
• Recipients receive tuition scholarship for Think Tank’s online CG Asset Creation for Film or Games
• All software provided by Think Tank
The XP Game Developer Summitis back for 2024! Connect with global industry professionals to explore crucial industry trends, develop new and innovative business building opportunities, and help shape the future of gaming and video game IP. The event unites business leaders, developers, publishers, investors, artists, educators and industry organizations for a comprehensive networking and knowledge-sharing experience.
This year’s focus is on the critical role of IP in games and will feature a series of expert speakers, panels and masterclasses on identifying, building, expanding and exporting IP. It also includes a Business Lounge with MeetToMatch matchmaking services, an exclusive VIP Lounge, and associated networking events.
DigiBC members are entitled to an exclusive discount on conference passes, a hotel discount, and have the opportunity to apply to be a speaker.
It's awards season and we'd like to congratulate all of our Animation & VFX member companies that have been nominated at this year's Academy Awards, VES Awards, Annie Awards, Kidscreen Awards, GLAAD Media Awards, BAFTAs, NAACP Image Awards and Producers Guild of America Awards.
Scanline VFX Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature // Nyad
Framestore Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature // Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature //Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project//Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 Outstanding Effects Simulation in an Episode //Invasion S02 (A Voice from the Other Side) Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature // Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (Rocket) Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project // Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (The Arete) Outstanding Created Environment in a Photoreal Feature // Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 (Knowhere) Sony Imageworks Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Outstanding Animated Character in an Animated Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Outstanding Created Environment in an Animated Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Outstanding Virtual Cinematography in a CG Project // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Outstanding Effects Simulations in an Animated Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in a Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Outstanding Model in a Photoreal or Animated Project // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Spider HQ) DNEG Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature // Oppenheimer Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature // Nyad Outstanding Visual Effects in an Animated Feature // Nimona Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Episode // The Last of Us S01 (Infected) Outstanding Compositing & Lighting in an Episode // The Last of Us
Outstanding Animated Character in a Photoreal Feature // Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom (Bringing Topo to Life) Outstanding Created Environment in an Episode, Commercial, Game Cinematic, or Real-time Project // The Last of Us (Post-Outbreak Boston)
Annie Awards
Winners announced on February 17, 2024
Titmouse Best TV/Media – Mature // Scavengers Reign (The Signal)
Best Production Design - TV/Media // Scavengers Reign (The Storm)
Best Writing - TV/Media // Scavengers Reign
Best TV/Media – Mature // Big Mouth (The International Show)
Best Music - TV/Media // Animaniacs (Talladega Mice)
Best Editorial - TV/Media // The Legend of Vox Machina (The Sunken Tomb)
DNEGAnimation Best Feature // Nimona
Best Character Animation - Feature // Nimona
Best Character Design - Feature // Nimona
Best Direction - Feature // Nimona
Best Production Design - Feature // Nimona
Best Storyboarding - Feature // Nimona
Best Voice Acting - Feature // Nimona (Chloe Grace Moretz)
Best Writing - Feature // Nimona
Best Editorial - Feature // Nimona
Sony Imageworks Best Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Best Direction - Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Best Editorial - Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
Best FX - Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Best Music - Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Best Character Design - Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse Best Production Design - Feature // Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse
WildBrain Studios Best Special Production // Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie
WildBrain Studios
Best One-Off, Special or TV Movie // Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marcie
Titmouse
Best New Series - Preschool Programming // Pupstruction Best New Series - Kids Programming // Kiff
GLAAD Media Awards
Winners announced on March 14 (Los Angeles) & May 1 (NYC)
DNEG Animation
Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film - Animated // Nimona
WildBrain Studios
Outstanding Children’s Programming // Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film - Animated // The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder S2
DRAGONS’ DEN gives aspiring entrepreneurs the opportunity to pitch their businesses to a panel of wealthy Canadian business moguls - the Dragons. Successful pitchers will have a chance to earn real investment from the Dragons’ own pockets! This is a fantastic opportunity for entrepreneurs and small business owners to apply and pitch their business concept for the chance to appear on national television.
Auditions for season 19 will kick off February 2024 and they will be hosting both virtual and in-person auditions in a few select, major cities. All applicants must apply through the online system, regardless if you are attending an in-person audition or a virtual audition. Selected applicants will be contacted in February 2024 to schedule an audition. Those who are invited to film for the show will need to be available for 1-2 days in Toronto in spring 2024.
Over the course of 2023, DigiBC remained steadfast in its mission to promote, accelerate, and showcase BC’s creative technology industry. We continued to work closely with federal and provincial government partners as the voice of the sector and completed several important projects with the incredible support of our membership and funding partners.
Highlights from throughout the year include co-producing Signals 2023 with VIFF,unveiling the Creative Technology Galleryat Science World, and launching the CodeForward Scholarship, as well as releasing the Creative XR in BC Reportand the Levelling Up: Growth Strategy for BC's Creative Technology Talent Pipeline Report. Full details on everything we accomplished over the last 12 months can be read in the summary below.
This year also saw some changes to our board of directors with Jon Lutz stepping down as board chair after serving six years and moving to a director role. This led to the appointments of our new board chair, Sarah Nathanson, and first ever vice-chair, Jeanne-Marie Owens.
We are extremely grateful for the ongoing support of our member companies, spanning the video game, animation, visual effects, and extended reality sectors, along with the wider creative tech community. As we look ahead, we are excited to introduce new programs, continue dialogue, and support the ongoing success of this vibrant and innovative industry.
If you're reading this and are not already a DigiBC member or have let your membership lapse, we encourage you to sign up or renew. Together we are stronger, sojoin usas we continue to advance the creative technology sector in BC.
~ The DigiBC Team & Board of Directors
The Creative Technology Gallery at Science Worldopened on September 18 and runs for the next three years. This groundbreaking space offers a fully immersive and interactive experience featuring well-known movies, animation and video games made right here in the province.DigiBC is proud to have partnered with Phoenix Labs and Science World to develop this gallery that is co-presented by Beedie and RBC, supported by Pacific Economic Development Canada, and created with the participation of Creative BC and the BC Arts Council.
DigiBC produced the second annual Signals event in October. This year’s event was focused on creative technology’s role in shaping our shared futures and the impact of AI. Attendees explored a curated collection of 35 immersive and interactive projects that showcased the possibilities of creative technology. Highlights included the world premiere of 16 films created by students of IM4’s Virtual Production (VP) Lab (the world’s first ever Indigenous VP training program), a sneak peek of Homeworld 3by Blackbird Interactive which is coming out on Gearbox next year, and the generative AI art installation,We Are Entanglement. A full recap of the week-long event can beread here.
We successfully completed another summer of DigiCamp: Online Coding Camp for Girls, deliveringfour sessions with an all-new curriculum for a range of skill levels. Camps were developed in partnership with Under the GUI (UTG) Academy and supported by IUGO Mobile Entertainment.
This year also marked the launch of the CodeForward Scholarship. Inspired by the desire of Catherine Winckler (Founder & CEO, MindfulGarden Digital Health) to support the participation of young girls in tech, the scholarship provided tuition for eight participants to receive a coding education through DigiCamp.
In collaboration with EverFi, thePlay to Learnprogram continued to be rolled out in schools throughout the province. This self-paced interactive program encourages middle school students to explore an array of STEM careers.
We completed the second phase of our Sector Labour Market Partnership (SLMP) project, resulting in the release of theLevelling Up: Growth Strategy for BC's Creative Technology Talent Pipeline Report. This describes how industry, educators, and government can work together to strengthen BC’s creative tech ecosystem, and it also identifies critical building blocks to attract, educate, hire, and support the next generation of workers.
Expanding on the Creative XR in BC Survey launched last year in partnership with Nordicity, we released theCreative XR in BC Research Reportin March. This first-of-its-kind report provides a snapshot of the sector’s current landscape and potential growth trajectories, as well as demographics, talent and skill needs, and emerging market opportunities. The study was conducted over three months and involved extensive surveying of the 36 participating companies and one-on-one interviews with key industry players.
As a member of the Canadian Interactive Alliance (CIAIC), DigiBC obtained funding to develop a National Interactive Digital Media (IDM) Profile Project in collaboration with Nordicity. This will be the first comprehensive benchmark of Canada’s IDM industry since 2013.The project will create a set of standard definitions, approaches, andmethodologies to support CIAIC, its members and otherpartner organizations in conducting research that canbe compared and used collaboratively to the benefit of the IDM industry across Canada.
DigiBC established an EDI Steering Committee, bringing together leaders from across our member companies to share programming, resources, and best practices to support EDI policy and commitments. We also created the DigiBC HR Group and DigiBC Finance Group to provide additional support for our game studio members.
DigiBC signed on to the Government of Canada’s50-30 Challenge in March 2021. The goal of the program is to challenge Canadian organizations to increase the representation and inclusion of diverse groups within their workplace, while highlighting the benefits of giving all Canadians a seat at the table. DigiBC is well on its way to reaching the 50-30 goal, with our board of directors currently at 46-46 and our executive office at 83-67.
We were thrilled to see the announcement of the extension of the Interactive Digital Media Tax Credit (IDMTC)to August 31, 2028. Hundreds of companies, ranging from video-game creators to those developing the next iteration of the internet, will benefit from the IDMTC, which supports a stronger, more innovative economy for British Columbia.
Through our government partners at the Trade Commissioner Service, Canadian Heritage, and the BC Ministry of Jobs, Economic Development and Innovation (JEDI), our member studios had opportunities this year to participate in international trade missions to PG Connects London, GDC, Japan (Osaka/Tokyo), G-Star, IndiaJoy, Gamescom, SXSW Sydney, and Asia Tech X.
DigiBC supported a number of local events throughout the year including the Diversity in Games (DIG) Creative Campfire and DIGLightning Lunch Speaker Series, Departure Lounge’s Food Bank Fundraiser & Poker Night, as well as Spark FX, Spark Reloaded and Spark Animation (as a Byte level sponsor for the Spark CG Society). We also organized a DigiBC Career Fair in response to the layoffs within the local games sector and to support those who were impacted. This was held at VCC, and we had exhibitor participation from 14 member studios with an overall turnout of around 250 attendees.
DigiBC’s board members Sharon Taylor (CEO, Animal Logic) and Shyang Kong (Co-founder, SkyBox Labs) were named in the Maclean’s Power List 2023. DigiBC board member Kay Wong-Alafriz (Kabam) was recognized at this year’s BIV C-Suite Awards winning the ‘CFO, Small Medium Enterprise’ category, and DigiBC's Executive Director Loc Dao was named to Vancouver Magazine's 2023 Power 50 List.
We updated our sizzle reeland unveiled it in April to coincide with Creative Industries Week. This video represents BC's entire creative technology sector from VFX, animation, and video games to virtual production and VR/AR/XR. It showcases some spectacular content from several of our member studios that is made right here in BC!
The Games from British Columbia Steam page features released and upcoming titles from a number of our independent and AAA developers of PC games, and we're proud to showcase their talent and range of development capabilities. The page was made possible with funding from Creative BC and the Province of British Columbia, and with the generous assistance of Kerberos Productions and Respeccd.
DigiBC continued to grow its roster of service providers offering exclusive discounts and perks to our member companies. This year, we brought on Easly Financial Services to support members with IDM financing and SR&ED, and World Trade Centre Vancouver came on board tooffer complimentary registration for our members to any of their programs that help strengthen the export performance of small and medium-sized businesses.
The eighth annualCreative Industries Week took place from April 17-21, showcasing BC’s dynamic creative sector which includes the book and magazine publishing, creative technology, film, and music industries.DigiBC joined government, community, and industry partners at the Legislature in Victoria to celebrate this event, sharing our 2023 Sizzle Reel. During the event, the Hon. Lana Popham, Minister of Tourism, Arts, Culture and Sport (TACS) announced that the government willprovide a historic contribution of $42 million to support people and businesses working in motion picture, music, publishing and interactive digital media industries in BC.
As part of Creative Industries Week, DigiBC presentedCreative Technology Day on April 20 to showcase some of the incredible work from studios across the province, spanning animation, VFX, video games, VR/AR/XR, and virtual production.
2023 DigiBC Events 01.26 BC Securities Commission Info Session 02.01 Women in Tech Regatta (DigiBC booth) 02.15 DXLR's Charity Poker Night & Food Bank Fundraiser(DigiBC supported) 03.11-14 SXSW: The Dark premiere / Vancouver Takeover at Canada House (DigiBC supported) 03.15 DIG Lightning Lunch Panel (DigiBC supported) 03.20-24 GDC Trade Mission 03.29 Creative XR in BC Report release 03.30 Dr Drea Resilient Coaching Info Session 04.17-21 Creative Industries Week 04.20 Creative Technology Day / SLMP Strategy Report release 06.14 DigiBC Career Fair 06.21 Easly & BDC Networking Mixer 07.08 DIG Virtual Networking Workshop (DigiBC supported) 07.10-14 DigiCamp: Online Video Game Development Camp for Girls (Summer #1) 07.24-28 DigiCamp: Online Video Game Development Camp for Girls (Summer #2) 08.14-18 DigiCamp: Online Video Game Development Camp for Girls (Summer #3) 08.28-09.01 DigiCamp: Online Video Game Development Camp for Girls (Summer #4) 09.18 Creative Technology Gallery at Science World opening 10.01-07 Signals 2023 (in collaboration with VIFF) 10.01 Signals VIP Opening Reception 10.03 Signals x Frontier Collective Mixer