Funding for cultural businesses
Several funding options are made available to cultural businesses in all cultural fields to meet their financial needs and ensure that they can access the funds needed to ensure their vitality. Since 1995, the Societe de developpement des entreprises culturelles (SODEC) (available online in French only) has acted as an investment bank for cultural businesses to support the development of all their activities, allow them to reach their growth potential, ensure their sustainability and reinforce and maintain Quebec property, notably by supporting business transfers. Fonds d'investissement de la culture et des communications (FICC) is a venture capital business that was created in 1997 to improve the financial structure of Quebec's cultural and communication businesses as well as contribute to their development, growth, profitability and business succession to foster job creation. The Government of Quebec launched the Quebec Culture Capital Fund (QCCF) in March 2011 to provide a new form of funding for Quebec's cultural businesses that wanted to export their talent abroad. The purpose of this fund is to fund large-scale cultural projects or products intended for markets outside of Quebec.
The SODEC offers the services of an investment bank (available online in French only), including term loans, revolving credit, loan guarantees, interim tax credit financing and occasionally investments in projects or in capital stocks. Financing is for the SODEC's area of activity (film and television, books and specialized publishing, fine crafts, visual arts, music and variety) as well as the following domains: performing arts, written media, heritage buildings, multimedia and radio, broadcast television and cable television. lt also offers interim refundable tax credit financing to produce audio recordings (available online in French only), to produce shows (available online in French only), for the books sector (available online in French only), and for the film and television sector (available online in French only).
The FICC uses quasi-equity and equity financial products and occasionally uses banking products in businesses specializing in the creation. production and dissemination of cultural content, as well as technical or technological support businesses that foster growth and the quality of creation. Performance arts, books, audiovisual work, disc media, radio, television, print media, multimedia work and the Internet are the preferred areas of activity for the FICC.
With an overall budget of $CAD 100M from the Government of Quebec ($CAD 60M) and the Fonds de solid a rite FTQ ($CAD 40M), the Quebec Culture Capital Fund (QCCF) focuses on the profitability potential of businesses that it supports by innovative financial means in a cultural context. These financing means take the form of participating and voting shares, preferred shares and loans. The main sectors eligible for financing are: shows, book publishing, buying and selling publishing rights, film and television production, multi-platform media, sound recording production, buying and selling catalogues, interactive digital production and video games.
The results expected through measures are for Quebec's cultural businesses to have access to the financing they need to ensure their vitality and sustainability.
SODEC: (2014-2015): $CAD 53.4M
FICC: $CAD 70M$ in investments since it was founded
FCCQ: overall budget of $CAD 100M