The newsletter of the SASKATCHEWAN INTERACTIVE MEDIA ASSOCIATION
That’s right! The Saskatchewan New Media Developers Association has changed its name! New Media is no longer “new,” and through a special vote, members voted to change the name to reflect the new reality of our interactive community. We are now the Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association Inc. – also known simply as Saskatchewan Interactive or SaskInteractive.com for our soon-to-be-revamped website. This announcement of the change was made at our March 9 symposium. (See details below)
We’re excited about the new name and the possibilities offered through our efforts to launch a game-development industry. Our mission is to foster the growth of our industry in Saskatchewan. We encourage you to support our efforts; assist us by becoming a member and presenting a united voice in Saskatchewan.
We could use your help. Please pass this email on to everyone you know in the industry. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, visit http://www.snmda.sk.ca (soon to switch over to http://www.saskinteractive.com
PLEASE NOTE: Our Annual General Meeting has been called for April 11 at 1:30 p.m. at the TRLabs video conference facilities in both Saskatoon and Regina.
Saskatoon – 111-116 Research Drive
Regina – 108 – 2 Research Drive
We look forward to seeing our new members at the AGM.
__________________________________________________________
OUR SYMPOSIUM – held March 9, 2006, in Saskatoon
Saskatchewan Interactive! was a tremendous success. Feedback indicated that the speakers offered a great overview of the breadth and depth of game development and the planning and organization was evident.
Kudos go to Barbara Rackham who had done a stellar job of managing this entire project and keeping us on budget.
Stayed tuned as we work away behind the scenes to edit the presentations to make them suitable for posting to our association’s website.
It was noted during the panel discussion that our provincial association has not received the financial support from the provincial government in the manner that other provinces have, to grow their industries. The comment was intended to be a wake-up call for our industry that we must make ourselves worthy of future government support and must develop a plan that makes economic sense in moving forward. Thanks in part to the activities surrounding the symposium, we are now on that track and we appreciate both the financial and moral support that Industry Canada and Saskatchewan Industry & Resources, especially, have offered in helping us get to that stage. There is much work that has to be done to define our future direction and to develop the blueprint that will help us to achieve that success. Our other major supporters are SATA, Investment Saskatchewan, SaskFilm, and Telefilm Canada, and Innovation Place. Many thanks also to the Information Technology Office (ITO), STEP, Western Economic Diversification, SaskTel and TRLabs.
Aside from our name change, several other announcements were made:
- President, Deborah Black, and Saskatchewan Interactive member, Richard Buckley, will be leaving for the Game Developers’ Conference in San Jose California this weekend to learn more about the game development industry, to network, and to meet with the Trade Commissioners to determine marketing potential for Saskatchewan companies. This has been primarily supported by Industry Canada and by our association and we will be creating reports that will be made available on-line. We will also be connecting with our Manitoba colleagues.
Our attendance at this event allows us to meet all four of our strategic initiatives that we had identified a year ago.
• to build upon existing relationships with parallel organizations;
• to increase networking opportunities;
• to increase marketing; and
• to improve trends awareness for our members.
- This summer, Saskatchewan Interactive will be working with Science West to host 2 two-week computer game development camps for high school students. We are starting to create our own “next generation” of programmers.
- A Manitoba game incubator initiative will soon be announced, according to presenter Marci Elliott, Chair of the Board for Fortune Cat Games Studios. We hope to connect into a network that they are proposing for the future.
- Our Marketing Strategy is near completion and will soon be presented to the Board for feedback and approval. This will provide more focus in our efforts to assist Saskatchewan companies to be seen in the world.
- A meeting to focus our energies in the “serious gaming” area will be held at TRLabs (Saskatoon and Regina) on April 26 at 1:30 p.m. We want to keep the group fairly targeted within the bio-medical/health sciences area for this initial meeting, to see what opportunities may exist for working collaboratively within the many projects currently underway in Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
Stay tuned for more announcements as our plans unfold.
___________________________________________________________
Important! - Industry Survey
This is a reminder that the Saskatchewan Interactive Media Association and the Canadian Interactive Alliance - L’Alliance Interactive Canadienne (CI@IC) have invited you to participate in the 2006 Canada Interactive Industry Profile survey. Plus, once you complete the survey, you may enter three draws for a chance to win passes to the Montreal International Games Summit, the iSummit in Toronto and VIDFEST in Vancouver. To qualify you must complete your survey by 12:00 p.m. EST on March 17, 2006.
The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to fill out and should be completed by a company principal, i.e. someone in a position to know operational information about your company’s work. If that is you, please click on the link below to be directed to the survey homepage. Otherwise please forward this email to the appropriate person.
http://www3.dufferinresearch.com/dash3/DashLogin?id=ciip623
We appreciate you taking the time to participate in the 2006 Canadian Interactive Industry Profile Study. If you have any questions about this study, please feel free to contact Rebecca Davidson at rdavidson@fadresearch.com.
This project was made possible with the support of the Department of Canadian Heritage through Telefilm Canada and Canadian Culture Online, the Ontario Media Development Corporation, Bell Broadcast & New Media Fund and the Entertainment Software Association.
___________________________________________________________
Advance Notice of a New Call for Proposals – New Media R&D Initiative
The New Media R&D (Research & Development) Initiative is aimed at supporting innovative applied research at the intersection of technology and culture. The Initiative has three objectives: 1) to help build research and development capacity in Canada and to advance innovation, specifically in the area of digital cultural content; 2) to strengthen R&D capacity in small-to medium-size enterprises in the cultural new media industry; and 3) to encourage partnerships between organizations involved in developing innovations to allow them to share expertise and build on each others’ strengths.
An advance notice of a new call for proposals has been posted on the Department of Canadian Heritage’s web site at http://www.pch.gc.ca/progs/pcce-ccop/progs/NewMediaR&DInitiative_e.cfm CI@IC Thanks! Raise Your Company Profile Have your company profiled nationally and internationally! The Canadian Jane Green ++++LAST CALL FOR ENTRIES++++++ www.vidfest.com The 3rd annual Vancouver International Digital Festival is The festival is the biggest digital content event in Canada. We invite submissions in two areas: DIGITAL FILM --Access other filmmakers, producers, buyers, distributors in an INTERACTIVE DESIGN --Meet other cutting-edge designers, producers, business partners Details and ENTRY FORMS available at: http://www.vidfest.com DEADLINE: March 31, 2006. iSummit 2006 NEWS - REGISTER TODAY. LIMITED SEATING STILL AVAILABLE!! Habitat Alumni to Blog, Podcast Summit NMBA Announces Keynote Speaker: Alexander Manu, Director of Beal Centre to Deliver Opening Day Address New iSummit 2006 Schedule Online Visit http://www.isummit.ca for all the latest news on iSummit 2006 (updated daily!). Website: http:// Posted by: Deborah Black Submitted March 17, 2006
The New Media R&D Initiative is a component of the Department of Canadian Heritage’s Canadian Culture Online (CCO) strategy, a framework to stimulate the development and production of Canadian cultural content on the Internet.
___________________________________________
I am working for New Media BC on the CI@IC website project. We will be
putting together information on each region and sector for the site's launch
on March 29th. We are putting together promotional reels to appear on the
site on each of the sectors of Digital Entertainment, Digital Film &
Animation, E-Learning, Mobile Content, and Interactive Design. I would like
to request that you put out a call to your members to submit their material
to us for inclusion in the reels. Please forward what we have written
below. Note that you need to write your association's name in the copy. We
want to include as many of your companies as possible so please feel free to
add your own note encouraging them to participate if you think that would
help. We want to monitor the response we are getting so please let me know
when you have sent this out.
Jane Green
New Media BC
604-739-9878
Interactive Alliance in partnership with (name of your association) is
developing a nation-wide marketing tool to profile the new media sector in
Canada. The tool will be hosted online at the Canadian Interactive Alliance
website, used at trade shows, for government presentations and at various
venues around the world. We are asking you to submit demo reels that we can
cut into reels representing all our sectors including Digital Entertainment,
Digital Film & Animation, E-Learning, Mobile Content, and Interactive
Design. The general call for submissions is now open until March 27. To be
considered for this marketing initiative, please email Michael Douglas at
mdouglas@mainframe.ca. He will provide you with the technical requirements
and an FTP link to submit your material. Thanks for helping us promote
Canada's new media industry
CI@IC
"Canada's United Voice for Interactive Digital Content"
604-739-9878
____________________________________________
looking for the best in digital film and interactive design. With
a growing reputation for bringing independent producers together
with big-name digital entertainment media companies like EA,
Nokia, ABC, Warner and Disney, VIDFEST is a premium venue to show
off your digital deftness.
intimate setting.
--Screen before the very enthusiastic audiences of VIDFEST.
--If your work is selected, you can enjoy one free all-access
pass to VIDFEST.
--Send us your digitally produced shorts including music videos,
animation, game sequences, digital narratives
--Profile work in an online exhibit (over 50,000 visitors in
2005) and at awards ceremony
--If your work is selected, you can enjoy one free all-access
pass to VIDFEST.
--Send us your innovative websites in Education, Business,
Entertainment, Arts/Experimental
______________________________________________
With only limited seating now available, NMBA announces that over 200 delegates have registered for iSummit 2006. "We are certainly very pleased with the response we have received to date " says summit Executive Producer Ian Kelso. Due to seating capacity restrictions, only limited numbers of seats are still available. Check out the companies attending iSummit 2006 http://www.isummit.ca/html/about-attendees.php
iSummit 2006 is partnering with alumni of the Habitat New Media Lab at the Canadian Film Centre to create a unique document of the event. Over the three days of the summit a team of journalists, photographers, commentators and videographers will document the panels, parties and people at the event. Stay tuned for the launch of the iSummit weblog!
The New Media Business Alliance announces that Alexander Manu, Director of the Beal Centre for Strategic Creativity at OCAD will deliver the keynote address on Thursday March 30th to open the first day of sessions at iSummit 2006. Go to the iSummit agenda and read more - http://www.isummit.ca/html/agenda2.php
The New Media Business Alliance announces the release of an updated iSummit 2006 schedule. Now with over 20 events and 70 speakers from across Canada, USA, UK & Australia! Visit http://www.isummit.ca/html/agenda.php for details.
_____________________________________________
