With that said, before I can start free-posting on any and all topics relating to the business side of art, there were some lingering questions from a previous post that I should cover before moving on.

The first (and infinitely easier to answer) is:

Rene: I know that the Government is planning to invest $263 million into video game development, and with us developing Bijoux Red, I was wondering how we could tap into that?

Well, Rene – without working for Ubisoft, I don’t know how successful that approach is going to be I did some quick research (i.e. some Googling before I had to leave the house), and swiftly came up with a July 7, 2009 Toronto Star article with this as its title:

Province investing $263 million in game developer, predicts 800 new jobs in fast-growing digital media

What it is is a 10-year investment plan where the government will invest in the new Ubisoft offices here in Toronto on the condition that they dole out the new jobs. Which only amount, on average, to 80 jobs per year. In a city of millions, that ain’t much.

So I guess the answer here is to either get hired on by Ubisoft or take an entirely different approach. Which is actually a good segue for the next question…

Aaron Alfred had asked “How do I go about applying for grants?”

I consider this a wildly open-ended question. It’s like “how do I apply for a job?” With a job, there’re a number of factors that’ll affect the manner in which you’d apply for a job. These include (but by no means are limited to):

• What kind of job it is
• What the company does
• What the company needs
• What the job ad asks for

and so on. Similarly, a grant application must be treated with the same degree of individuality. You must consider:

• What is the grant for and how do you match those requirements?
• How accurately can you describe what it is you’d like to do with the grant money?
• What makes you more deserving than the next grant applicant?

There are a number of factors one could consider – the point I am trying to illustrate is that it is difficult to give one catch-all answer on how to apply for grants and make sure that it is accurate.

A quick search on “canada art grants” using Google will give you results such as:

• http://www.canadacouncil.ca/grants/
• http://www.canadaart.info/filesE/funding.html

I invite you to check out some of the grants and see what the qualifications are. I’ll probably apply for a few myself, sooner or later, so I can definitely give more insight after going through the process.

Anyway, let me know any further thoughts, etc. that you might have and that I might be able to address.

Thanks,

–case p.

A little about me before we start:

*worked at TD Canada Trust for 6.5 years, finishing up as a Financial Sales Representative

*have an Honours Bachelor of Arts from York University, majoring in Business & Society with a focus in the Economics and Mathematics/Statistics streams

*spent two years as a Business/Financial Planning intern for the Government of Ontario, currently employed there as a Project Planning Coordinator

With all that said, please fire off your questions, concerns and ideas for financial management. What do you want to know more about? Where can I help?

Let me know so I can start writing to help you!

Thanks,

–case p.