Week of April 3, 2020
Government Announcements / Policies / Funding
- Updated: Temporary Wage Subsidy Program – Federal
Now covers 75% of salaries for qualifying businesses, for up to three months, retroactive to March 15. This subsidy is for those who have experienced a revenue loss of 30% or more. - COVID-19 Supply Hub – Provincial
The BC Government has partnered with the Digital Technology Supercluster and the Business Council of BC to create the COVID-19 Supply Hub. Organizations interested in offering support, equipment and supplies to help health workers fight the pandemic can access the online platform here. - The Recovery Project
An international coalition of think-tanks, research institutes, and organizations designed to start the conversation about recovery, even if it seems a long way off. - CMHA National: COVID-19 & Mental Health Startup Survival Guide
The Canadian Mental Health Association has put together some resources and suggestions to help support your mental health at this time of uncertainty.
Connectivity
- Bell, Rogers, TELUS, Fido, TekSavvy Have Temporarily Removed Data Caps
- List of Mobile Phone Providers Doing the Most for Customers During COVID-19
TELUS Employee Purchase Program
Are members of your team struggling with bandwidth? The Anim&VFX Alliance and DigiBC have been working with internet providers to ease the pain a bit. TELUS subscribers can now access our new Employee Purchase Program (EPP) which provides a $10 monthly discount to internet service, based on the best current pricing at market. While this requires a two-year plan, the benefit is both a monthly discount and flexibility. The plan can revert back to prior bandwidth once the increase is no longer needed. Find out if you can access TELUS PureFibre:
How to access the DigiBC / Anim&VFX Alliance Employee Purchase Program?
Have the appropriate person at your studio contact Scott Simpson at TELUS (scott.simpson@telus.com) and mention the applicable industry association.
Industry-Related News
- Comprehensive WFH Digital Resource Guide
- How to Secure Your Zoom Meetings From Zoom Bombing Attacks
- The Impact of COVID-19 on the Mobile Economy
- Securing Your Home Networks for Education Online
- Do you have a 3D printer? If so, you can help fill the PPE shortage. Check the 3E Printing Industry resource guide for further details.
Signal Boosting / #GiveBack / How Can I Help?
- Trent Shumay is a seasoned video game programmer, having previously worked at Slant Six, Next Level Games, A.C.R.O.N.Y.M. and Electronic Arts. A successful entrepreneur, he went on to co-found Finger Food Advanced Technology Group and then later Moody Ales. One of his current endeavors, IoT Design Shop, has retooled its production line to print out protective gear for nurses, doctors and other frontline healthcare workers. They have partnered with LNG Studios and created a GoFundMe to help raise money for the cost of materials. Click here to support this awesome effort!
- Finger Food ATG created a virtual food drive and raised more than $15,000 for local food banks in Greater Vancouver, Calgary and Denver.
- Hyper Hippo announced that their players will soon have the ability to make donations to the United Nations Foundation directly from their Facebook pages.
- East Side Games contributed to the ‘High Fives for the Frontline‘ initiative that Lee’s Donuts recently started. They are delivering donuts to frontline workers throughout the city and each day they pick a new essential service to thank. ESG is also supporting local breweries by organizing Friday beer run deliveries to their employees.
- Blackbird Interactive is taking money that would have been spent on office expenses (coffee, snacks, etc) and using it to give each employee a local meal delivery gift card. This injects cash back into the local economy and helps the restaurants that have been so badly hit during this crisis.
- Kano Apps has initiated a few tactics to keep spirits up while working remotely. One of those is a Slack channel where the team can share their adorable WFH companions. Check out Team Kano: Pet Edition!
- Phoenix Labs is putting out a weekly Spotify Quarantine Playlist.
Data Collection
Video Games / IDM: DigiBC will be in contact with Interactive Digital Media companies to share our tracking tool and to ensure wide representation in data gathering. Whether you are a member or not, we invite you to participate for the benefit of the sector. More on this next week.
Upcoming Virtual Events of Interest
April 6 & 7: RealTime Conference 2020
April 7: Developing Strategies for Mental & Physical Well-Being During a Pandemic