As an audiovisual fund dedicated to Digital Images and Creative Industries, Pictanovo is committed to supporting the many professions and industries in this field. Animation is one of them and it is for this reason that the fund has taken part in the ALICE project. In this context, close collaboration has been practiced with the animation players of the Region Hauts-de-France through regular stakeholders’ meetings. The approach has brought fresh ideas, unexpected solutions to tackle the sector’s challenges, a stronger industry network and new perspectives for the future.
Encouraged by the positive results observed in animation, and as the lasting COVID19 pandemic has changed work and communication habits, Pictanovo took the initiative to apply the principle of the stakeholders’ meetings to another strategic and growing sector: video games. The objective of this initiative is twofold: maintain a consistent, two-way communication flow with the actors of a developing sector, and assess the impact of its 4-year-old support program for gaming.
The first “gaming stakeholders’ meeting” took place on 30 November 2020 with the companies Game In, Atelier 801, CCCP, Vertical, Accidental Queens. It allowed the participants to look back on the first years of Pictanovo’s dedicated funding program, in terms of amounts invested, productions funded and the results for the region. This initial assessment made it possible to reflect on the relevance of the program and discuss ways to improve it so that it fits the operational realities of the industry and offers better support. The next meeting of this kind is scheduled for May and then similar sessions should be repeated every six months.
With these meetings, in addition to meetings with individual companies held throughout the year, Pictanovo wants to create an open floor for collective reflection on the best strategies for efficient support of the industry. It also aims at making sure everyone can be heard, as well as gaining deeper knowledge and up-to-date information about the state of the sector and the development paths. This is a completely innovative approach, inspired by ALICE, and which should lead to successful policies.
As background: the importance of exchanging good practices
The objective of ALICE is to promote collaboration between European countries in the animation industry. In this spirit, collaboration is seen as an answer to the fierce international competition, as it makes it possible to produce ambitious projects while cultivating talents. Therefore, one of the foundations of the project is to practice collaboration by actively learning from, testing and potentially adopting what is being done in other regions/places or other sectors. The result of this collective, active and continuous approach is the implementation of new best practices, which make the lives of the industry players easier, help streamline communications, improve the efficiency of operations, and create new business opportunities.
© Cover picture: The Arcade Crew, Yong Souls
