It was another great week of learning and networking. This week, I attended the Professional Advisory Committee (PAC) meeting at the Art Institute of Colorado (AIC). The PAC consults and provides feedback to the Art Institute (and vice versa) about industry trends and ideas on how to improve curriculum and student participation/growth within the industry community. I feel pretty honored to have been invited, especially since Planet Postmoderna is still an Indie and I hardly have as much expertise (but I am getting there) as some of the other companies and individuals in attendance. Some of the companies that came included Backflip Studios, DreamQuest Software (both Colorado Game Studios), Xile Tv, A3 Media, Pixel Kitchen, Bloom Animation and a few others.
While I was there, I even got to watch a demonstration in the school’s motion capture animation room. That was pretty neat. Watch out Hollywood!
We also talked about the upcoming CINEMA Bill which will go before Colorado Legislators on Feb 8th. CINEMA stands for Colorado Innovators of New Entertainment, Media, and Arts. This bill will put Colorado Film, Television and Media back to work. It includes a majority of media arts as well as game design and production.
Did you know that even though Colorado is one of the most beautiful and diverse states in the nation and with a wealth of artistic talent, very few production companies actually choose to film here? They choose instead to film in states such as New Mexico, Georgia, Michigan and Louisiana. This is because these states offer attractive tax incentives. Currently, the Colorado tax incentive for film is only 10%. Colorado’s incentive needs to increase for our industry to compete. These productions utilize local construction crews, food services, grocery stores, hotels, salons, spas, airlines, housing, rental cars and much more.
Governor John Hickenlooper quoted last week in his “State of the State” speech that “Their main task is to create jobs in Colorado.” Show support for this bill and the effort by liking the Colorado Film and Video Association Facebook Page, or turning out on Capital Hill on the 8th (of course, if you live in Colorado).
CINEMA Day at Colorado’s State Capital
200 E. Colfax Ave. Denver, CO 80203
Wednesday February 8th, 2012
7:30am-1:00pm
I also speant more time networking this week (of course!). This morning, I went to the Springs Startup, Open Coffee Meetup. I went with one of my a colleagues from Colorado Springs Marketing Group. Springs Startup is designed to provide info related to startups and entrepreneurial activity within the Colorado Springs community. It was an interesting meeting. We talked a bit about The Lean Startup again as well as the status of investor presence in Colorado Springs. Unfortunately, a lot of work needs to be done to re-educate the investor community in the Springs about what opportunities are available. Springs Startup will over time bring those investors and the note-worthy start-up companies together.
