Montreal company Moment Factory, for instance, has seen such a surge in demand for its innovative multi-media creations in recent years that it can’t keep up with demand. “We get about 20 invitations a week now. We can’t do them all. We’re actually handling only about 10 per cent,” said the company’s executive producer, Eric Fournier.
Moment Factory is hoping to significantly increase that percentage in the next three years by doubling, to 500, a workforce where the average age is 30. The Quebec government will help that happen with a contribution of $2.6 million toward manpower training.
At a press conference Tuesday at the company’s spacious new studios on Parc Ave., where employees skateboard through the halls and pets are welcome, Employment and Social Solidarity Minister François Blais said it was a large outlay for his ministry, but Moment Factory was a model enterprise for many Quebecers, a creative and forward-thinking business with international reach in a sector experiencing rapid growth. The company also is investing an extra $7.8 million of its own, he noted.
Fournier thanked the government for “encouraging Quebec enterprises” in their expansion dreams.
Finding qualified workers is a development challenge for many Quebec companies these days, particularly with the provincial unemployment rate lower than Ontario’s at 6.2 per cent, Blais said. Moment Factory’s multi-disciplinary team includes graphic and motion designers, multimedia directors, illustrators, architects, lighting designers, programmers and engineers.
Founded 15 years ago, Moment Factory has grown exponentially thanks to the exposure provided by Madonna’s Super Bowl halftime show in 2011, installations like Singapore’s Changi Airport and travelling shows by the likes of Miley Cyrus, Arcade Fire and Cirque du Soleil (helping to bring the Microsoft Kinect Launch, the launch of the McLaren F1, The Beatles Revolution Lounge, and more to life). About 85 per cent of its revenues now are generated outside Quebec. For Montreal’s 375th anniversary in 2017, it will be lighting the Jacques Cartier Bridge and providing effects for a special Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal performance.
{ SOURCE: Montreal Gazette | https://goo.gl/6XFl2E }
