Village Gamer

Vancouver – BCTIA has announced that they will be holding a Members’ Reception on July 21 from 4 – 7pm. Tickets are $50.00, this event is open to BCTIA members only. The BCTIA Member Reception…On the Water is your opportunity to develop new business relationships in a relaxed and casual atmosphere. Join us for some west-coast style networking while enjoying the beautiful view of Vancouver’s harbour and Stanley Park from the water. Mix and mingle with fellow BCTIA members while enjoying delicious appetizers.

On July 22, BCTIA will be hosting a Business Survival Strategies Webinar. The topic will be Proven Techniques to Grow Your Business, with speaker Dr. Jim Sellner PhD., DipC. Cost is $69.00 for members and $89.00 for non-members.

Webinar Details:
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Vancouver – Several founding members of Women In Games Vancouver (WIGV), along with several women (and men) from Vancouver’s game development community will be participating in a new Leadership Development Forum taking place on July 20 in Seattle. The Forum, being held one day prior to the start of Casual Connect Seattle, will offer a variety of topics relating to business, development, careers and community. Presented in partnership with the Casual Game Association, Women In Games International and the IGDA Women In Games SIG, topics will be presented on three consecutive tracks: Business, Design and Production.

Taking place at The Triple Door, the Leadership Development Forum will begin with registration and networking at 11am. Attendees will be welcomed by Jessica Tams, Managing Director at Casual Games Association and Annie Sumi Nam of WIGV. They will be followed by keynote presenter Megan Gaiser, President and CEO of Her Interactive, who will speak on the Importance of Leadership. Please read on for information on the full schedule, and a special thank you to Kerry and Kalinka Corlett over at AnnexPro for their generous sponsorship and support of WIGV’s first official international speaking event.

Anyone who is attending Casual Connect will have full access to the Leadership Development Forum. For those who only wish to attend the Leadership Forum, tickets are $25.00 (USD) and include networking, panels, roundtables and the post-event mixer.
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Toronto – Interactive Ontario (IO) is pleased to welcome Darko Milivojevic as Vice President, Industry Development, to its growing team. In this new role, Darko will be responsible for representing Ontario industry stakeholders’ interests, and increasing their visibility, on a national and international level.

“We are tremendously excited to have Darko join our team at IO,” said Ian Kelso, President and CEO, Interactive Ontario. “We know he will bring a wealth of industry expertise to the position that will create opportunities for Ontario Digital Media companies.”

Darko brings an expert understanding of interactive digital media and video game industry businesses with twelve years experience in Digital Media, nine of it in the video game sector. In addition to Digital Media, Darko previously worked in Film, TV/Broadcast, Technology, Casual Games and mobile games industries at Sympatico, AOL Time Warner, CHUM, CTV, Fight Network and Electric Playground. Darko has also partnered with some of the major players in the industry including: Xbox, Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts, Warner, Rogers, Bell, Omniture, My Thum, QuickPlay, FeedRoom and Marblemedia to name a few.

“Joining Interactive Ontario allows me not only to champion the Ontario interactive digital content industry, but to work with the best in order to make Ontario the example to follow for the rest of the world,” says Darko Milivojevic, Vice President, Industry Development for IO.
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Ottawa – Media Awareness Network (MNet), Canada’s leading not-for-profit media literacy organization, is pleased to announce the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) has joined the organization’s team of supporters as a Silver Sponsor.

“We are honoured that CIRA recognizes the importance of media literacy in the lives of children and youth,” said Cathy Wing, MNet’s Co-Executive Director. “These funds will help MNet to continue to develop high quality media literacy programs and resources that support the healthy development of young Canadians.”

“As the Internet becomes more integrated in our daily lives, it is now more important than ever to ensure young people are equipped to make safe decisions when using the Internet,” says Byron Holland, President and CEO of CIRA.  “The Media Awareness Network provides an important and necessary service to educators and parents and as the steward of Canada’s domain and Internet space, CIRA is proud to be a sponsor of MNet’s vital programs.”
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Calgary – Digital Alberta is pleased to announce the first in a series of upcoming workshops. These one day intensive workshops are geared to providing DA members with a unique opportunity to train directly with experts in their fields.

The First Work Shop is entitled “Digital Painting” with instructor Jaysin from the brilliant DPI Studios. He will run you through the process he uses as you follow along, creating the digital painting yourself. As an artist looking to branching into illustration, design, animation, or gaming this course offers you an opportunity to expand your portfolio and to showcase the pieces that potential employers want to see.

When: Saturday, July 18, 2009
Time: 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM
Where: Calgary Technologies Inc. – 100 3553 31 Street NW – Calgary, AB
What you will need: Laptop, wacom tablet, PhotoShop
Cost: $ 150+ GST for Digital Alberta Members only OR Affiliated Partners (this includes snacks, full lunch and free parking)

Online registration is now open.

British Columbia – Tonight’s ACM SIGGRAPH Vancouver Chapter AGM has been postponed to a later date. The AGM was slated to take place prior to this evening’s soldout event, Watchmen Revealed.

Just a reminder that the Canary Derby will be running on June 27 in Vancouver and June 28 in Victoria.  Village Gamer is supporting Brenda Bailey, who is participating on the Wired Woman team – and we challenge you to support a team too! We have all lost loved ones to cancer – please get involved in supporting early detection research.

New Media BC is presenting a case-study on the Canucks Fan Zone, a user-generated editorial and fan media web portal followed by a good old fashion networking mixer in partnership with the Anton Sledgehammer Creative Agency. The seminar will take place on June 25, with a registration fee of $35.00 ($25.00 for NMBC members).

The joint Annual General Meetings of WINBC and Wavefront will take place on June 22 at Nokia’s offices at 9200 Glenylon Parkway, in Burnaby. They are combining the AGMs with the end of season MoMoVan party. The event will run from 5:30 pm to 8:00 pm, and the AGMs will be held at 6:15 pm.

Victoria – VIATeC has two activities planned for July.  First on the schedule is a seminar to aid businesses who need to work around fluctuations in the US dollar, and this July 7 seminar will help businesses to develop hedging strategies to protect technology businesses. This is followed by VIATeC’s July VIAFest event, which is an open house event at Contech. Come out for a tour their facility and view Contech’s unique designs as a provider of advanced animal training and control technologies for pets, their owners and gardeners worldwide. Read the rest of this entry »

Vancouver – New Media BC and Kenton Lowe have just issued a statement in which Kenton has officially stepped down as the President of New Media BC. He will be taking on a position with Bardel Entertainment, and in his stead, board member Rochelle Grayson will be taking over as temporary President until a replacement is found and hired.

Rochelle Grayson

In his statement, Kenton thanked the members for working with him during his time as President of the association, and he, along with NMBC Chairman of the Board, Warren Franklin were pleased to make the announcement regarding Rochelle. As many in this city know, Rochelle has been very active in the new media industry, most recently with Work [at] Play. Kenton will be working closely with Rochelle to aid in the transition, and he looks forward to staying in touch with friends and colleagues as he moves on to a new stage in his career.

We here at Village Gamer wish Kenton all the best over at Bardel and enthusiastically welcome Rochelle as the (albeit) temporary leader of our provincial organization.

Vancouver – The June 17th presentation of Watchmen Revealed, which features Ben Cole, Landon Bootsma and Tim Mulvihill of MPC Vancouver will explore the pressures of recreating one of the most acclaimed comic books in history, revealing the challenges they faced in assembling some of the more complex scenes and answering questions surrounding the diverse techniques used. MPC Vancouver is hiring, so be sure to bring your demo reel and visit their recruiting booth during the pre-show event.

The evening will begin with the Vancouver ACM SIGGRAPH chapter’s first Annual General Meeting since its formation as a non-profit organization. Members are asked to be at the VanCity Theatre at 6:00pm for this very important meeting. Following the meeting at 6:30 will be an industry social mixer. It is not necessary to have tickets for Watchmen Revealed in order to attend the AGM and the mixer. Contact Siggraph Vancouver to register for these two pre-show events.

Watchmen Revealed is sponsored by: BCIC, 3vis, VanArts, Sophia Books, AnnexPro, Stash Digital Media, VEAbc and Society of Graphic Designers Canada, Vancouver Chapter.

Toronto – Interactive Ontario today announced a new project, ONKidz, that is aimed at promoting Ontario’s Kids sector on a global scale. The ONKidz project will culminate with a business event focused on the interactive kids space in the spring of 2010 in Toronto, Canada. ONkidz supports the creation and commercialization of Ontario-made interactive media content and services for kids ages 4 to 15.

“It goes without saying that kids prioritize their interactions with and through digital media very differently than their parents,” said Ian Kelso, President and CEO of Interactive Ontario. “ Interactive Ontario is thrilled to present a unique event pulling together the leading creators of interactive experiences and the producers, broadcasters, and publishers who are leading the charge on building integrated cross-platform markets.”
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Banff – The Canadian Television Fund today announced the Board of Directors of the new Canada Media Fund. The seven independent directors include five nominated by the Canadian Coalition for Cultural Expression (CCCE), which includes cable and direct-to-home satellite companies, and two nominated by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

Fostering the growth of television production in Canada through financial investment and industry research, the Canadian Television Fund (CTF) supports the development of Canadian talent, programs and audiences. The Canada Media Fund, an amalgamation of the Canadian Television Fund and the Canada New Media Fund, will launch on April 1, 2010 to support the development of content designed for television and new media platforms.

The 2009-2010 Directors of the Board of the Canada Media Fund are as follows:
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