The year 2011 is best described as one
of change for Tara Levesque, Dennis Landry and Mike Large. After a
decade each at Music and Film in Motion (MFM), the Sudbury-based trio
decided to launch its own consulting firm, building on the foundation
of what they had started at MFM.
“We all knew we wanted a change and
that if there was going to be a perfect time for it to happen this
would be the time, that we would all have to jump on it,” said
Levesque, who spent nine years as MFM’s director of programming.
“Otherwise, I know I would have just gone back to work and fallen
back into similar patterns and maybe always wondered, ‘What if I’d
said something out loud, what if I’d acted on an idea I’d had
about moving on.’”
Copperworks Consulting offers an à la
carte menu of services that clients can pick and choose from, only
paying for the services they need. Included in the firm’s area of
expertise are artist services, organization and support services,
film production and sector support, and event planning and
management.
Their diverse roster of clients
includes Ottawa Area Ontario Early Years Centres, Sudbury country
musician Larry Berrio, the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation
and Jazz Sudbury. The event was recently named Best New Festival and
listed as one of the Top 100 Festivals in the province by Festivals
and Events Ontario.
All three recognized that living in the
North and working in the entertainment and events industry posed some
limitations, since there were only so many outlets where their skills
and experience were needed. But with the industry enjoying an
extended boom in the North, Landry was confident there would be a
place for a consulting firm like theirs.
“It’s an exciting time to be
involved in any of these industries, regardless of what your role is,
and for us it was time to play a different role, and in some ways to
become more hands-on,” Landry said.
Ironically, the majority of
Copperworks’ clients aren’t even based in Sudbury; work has come
from Timmins, Ottawa, Huntsville, North Bay and beyond. It was a
unanticipated twist in their plan, but something that has come as a
pleasant surprise.
“We’re not beholden to just working
with people in Northern Ontario, although we really want to and look
forward to doing that,” said Large, who has worked in the music
industry for more than 20 years. “We’re able to take requests and
see where that takes us, and it’s been very interesting.”
Looking back on the development of MFM
12 years ago, Landry, the organization’s founding executive
director, admits it was an ambitious project. But critics who doubted
it would ever work have been disproven and the industry is now stable
and growing.
Landry noted that Ontario is the only
jurisdiction in North America that has a burgeoning entertainment
industry beyond its main centre in Toronto. There are successful
clusters in Hamilton, Ottawa and now Northern Ontario, which creates
value for those in the industry.
“That has tremendous value for the
province, not just the region, in terms of selling itself as a
completely open-for-business film place,” Landry said. “It’s
huge.”
As Copperworks grows, it’s unlikely
the partners—who have forgone a storefront business in favour of
working out of their homes—will bring on additional staff. Instead,
they’re looking at establishing partnerships with other companies
outside the area, such as translation services, that can complement
their expertise.
That means Sudbury is poised to reap
the spinoffs, including investment back into the community by those
who live and work here. And that’s a comfort to Landry, Large and
Levesque, who have made a conscious decision to remain in the North
and are determined to make it work.
“If we had made that call (to move
out of the North) it would have been one made with a heavy heart,”
Levesque said. “I was born and raised here, and I have a young
family; this is where we want to stay, this is the life that we love.
It would have been a big decision and not one I would have been happy
about.”
www.copperworksconsulting.ca