The government of Prince Edward Island has launched a five-year action plan to help develop the province’s cultural and creative industries.

Cultivating Growth, unveiled Nov. 20, dedicates a projected $3.5 million over five years to initiatives aimed at strengthening the creative industries. That’s in addition to the $4.5 million the province already invests across all of its cultural programs, Andrew Sprague, senior communications officer for Innovation PEI, told Playback Daily.

The strategy lays out nearly 40 actions it hopes will build its creative industries, including the creation of a local film media fund. The proposed $400,000 fund, which will be developed in the first year of the action plan, aims to support filmmaker development in P.E.I.

In addition to the fund, the government has announced a new 25% rebate on all money spent in P.E.I. on film and TV production. The province has been without an official rebate program since 2004, when it ended its 30% labour-based rebate. Since then P.E.I. approved film and TV funding on a case-by-case basis, allotting $2.58 million over the past 10 years for local productions, including Adam Perry’s A Blessing From the Sea and preschool series Bunny Bop, among others, according to Sprague.

Other initiatives announced in the strategy include creating a Creative Industries Secretariat within Innovation P.E.I. and under the direction of the Minister of Economic Development and Tourism, that will support the creative industries and manages cultural development initiatives.

In year two of the plan, the government will establish a market development program to help grow the P.E.I.’s creative businesses and provide better access to new markets.

Cultivating Growth was created based on input from 27 focus groups, seven group interviews, informal pop-up events at 12 locations across the island and a public survey that gathered 1,500 responses.