10 years and $50 million later, the Bell Fund is still going strong

With $50 million invested in over 500 new media projects associated with television productions, it's impossible for the Bell Broadcast and New Media Fund to acknowledge every venture its had a hand in since its inception in October 1997. That's why for its 10th anniversary the fund today announced the selection of its Top 10 New Media Groundbreakers from the past decade, not only to take stock of the impact the Bell Fund has had in Canada, but also the impact those projects have had on the global industry. " had such a huge impact on the industry but typically we don't blow our horns and we thought we would try to do that a little bit," says Bell Fund executive director Andra Sheffer. "I think we are all pretty much in awe of what we have accomplished here."With that in mind, a seven-member jury of experts and thought leaders from Canada and around the world chose Bell Fund projects that set new standards and featured cutting-edge innovation. After the fund narrowed the field to 25 finalists that coincidentally encompassed all 10 years of its existence and included projects originating from all regions of Canada, the jury picked the following 10 Groundbreakers: ProductionCompaniesBroadcasterhttp://www.angelaa.com/ Decode Entertainment Inc.Teletoonhttp://www.cornemuse.com/ Téléfiction Productions inc.Télé-Québechttp://www.deafplanet.com/ marblemedia interactive inc.TVOhttp://www.degrassi.tv/ Epitome Pictures Inc., Snap Media Inc.CTVhttp://www.extremis.tv/ Macumba International inc.Télé-Québechttp://www.madeinmtl.com/ Bluesponge inc. Locomotion Télévision inc.CTV, TV5 http://www.regenesistv.com/ Shaftesbury FilmsXenophile MediaTMN, Movie Centralhttp://www.renegadepress.com/ Vérité Films Inc.OH Media Inc.APTN, TVO, SCN, Access, Book TV, Knowledge, TFO http://www.zimmertwins.ca/Zinc Roe Design inc. Teletoonhttp://www.11somerset.com/Trinôme inc.Télé-Québec, CHUM"When you look at each one of these projects you realize that Canadian new media producers have been really creative and innovative and are at the forefront of so many things we now take for granted," says Sheffer. For example, the Angela Anaconda website from Decode pioneered now commonplace user-generated content eight or nine years ago. And Xenophile had to create the term ‘alternate reality game' to describe the game it produced in collaboration with the ReGenesis television series because no such product previously existed. Of course, many initiatives never achieved the influential status of the 10 Groundbreakers, but that not every single project that received Bell funding has been successful is also somewhat of a trademark for the fund; Sheffer says limiting funding to safe-bet projects does little to foster innovation. "The opportunity for experimentation has been there every single year....Some things have worked and some haven't, but it was the risk-taking and the experimenting that's pretty exciting."Adaptability has also allowed the Bell Fund to help keep Canada at the forefront of the new media industry. Sheffer says the fund's board has a "go-with-the-flow" attitude when it comes to expanding the list of projects available for funding as the industry evolves, be it to include mobile, interactive television, or whatever may come next, in addition to websites. One area the Bell Fund has evolved into recently is seeding the industry with talent through an internship program it launched in April. The $50,000 national program was also part of the fund's 10th anniversary celebration, but will now be an annual initiative. And the 10 students who completed their internships over the summer are being recognized as 10 to Watch. The interns, and the companies they were placed with, are: Kendal Husband, WishboneX Creations Ltd.; Daisy Chia, Hop To It Productions; Malcolm Oliver, The Nimble Company; Maayan Cohen, marblemedia interactive inc.; Christina Monai, Reel Girls Media; David Stubbs, Stitch Media; Anne Washeul, Turbulent Média inc.; Landry Mussard, PVP Interactif inc.; Chantal Mathieu, Productions Nova Média inc.; and Ryan Mullins, Eyesteelfilm.Sheffer says the feedback from the program has been overwhelmingly positive, with many of the interns staying on at the companies in paid positions. One such student is Maayan Cohen, who is remaining with marblemedia in a part-time capacity while she completes her final year in Ryerson University's Radio and Television Arts program. Cohen moved from Israel to Toronto to pursue a new media degree that included practical experience, which she got in spades at marblemedia. "It's such an amazing company," she says, "You can go and talk to the and they are really accommodating." The experience and contacts Cohen made from her internship also helped ensure the final-year project she pitched at school was one of the 20 selected to go ahead in her program. She says it takes audio stories and brings them to life through visuals with a focus on crossing multiple platforms. "I'm trying to push the boundaries of creating content that is really multi-platform," she adds. Sounds like a future candidate for a Bell Fund grant.

10 years and $50 million later, the Bell Fund is still going strong

News | 10/03/2007 12:44 pm EDT

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