Sixteen industry organizations are gathering in Halifax, NS today for an event geared toward supporting the development of business skills among emerging and diverse creators.

The One-Stop Funding Workshop is a first of its kind in that it gathers industry funders – including CMF, Telefilm, CBC, CAVCO, Bell Fund, IPF and others such as the CMPA – in the same room to discuss how the various national and regional entities come together to finance content.

In the past, Canadian funding organizations have typically hosted individual events to explain how their specific funding streams operate. This event marks “a recognition from the industry that we need to do more to make it easier for creators, especially from backgrounds that have faced systemic barriers,” Lisa Clarkson, CBC’s executive director, business & rights and content optimization, told Playback Daily.

Clarkson said that, in part, the idea for the event was spurred by a question she received while CBC was hosting its own panel a couple of years ago. “Someone asked me: ‘Why do you make it so hard? Can’t you just be in one place so that we can understand more quickly how all the pieces fit together?'”

The conference, hosted at the CBC building in Halifax, consists of panels focused on docs, original digital projects and a “financing 101” explainer for emerging producers, as well as funding case studies designed to demystify the financing process. The other organizations involved include NSBI, Rogers Group of Funds, NFB, Screen Nova Scotia, Whites Production Services, Innovation PEI, DHX, Royal Bank of Canada, IoM Media and Vertical Productions.

Pending the success of Wednesday’s event, the goal is to next take the event to Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto.

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