The new bilingual mobile sound recording company, SpaceCamp Productions, will be able to grow much faster than expected, thanks to a $25,000 investment it just won as champion of the 2021 Francophone Ignition Contest.
Owners Donald Richard, an experienced sound engineer and musician, and Jake Charron, an internationally renowned Juno award-winning musician, will now be able to purchase more recording, mixing and mastering equipment. This equipment is needed to continue adding local, national and international artists and bands to their client list, which already includes musicians from the Island (Vishten, The East Pointers), England and even Australia (The Wiggles). They will also be better positioned to offer counseling, mentoring, consulting and backup music services.
Already this year, their sales have exceeded the financial projections they had submitted to the Ignition contest.
Their presentation to the competition’s judges, Claudette Thériault, Jeannette Arsenault and Martin Marcoux, was most compelling. It included a small demonstration of the immeasurable difference a professional mix can make compared to a basic recording. The duo also showed clips of testimonials from clients such as Emmanuelle LeBlanc of Vishten, Tim Chaisson of The East Pointers and a couple of musicians from England.
In addition to winning the sizeable amount of money, the champions also won a free course from Le Collège de l’Île as well as free one-year memberships with the Greater Charlottetown and Area Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Summerside Chamber of Commerce.
SpaceCamp Productions had a lot of strong competition during this entrepreneurial development contest, organized by RDÉE Prince Edward Island and held in front of about 40 people Tuesday, March 16, in Abram-Village.
Sisters Samantha Arsenault and Natalie Gallant were proposing to expand their small business Ligne à hardes, which sells T-shirts, tank tops and sweatshirts of various colours and sizes, featuring Acadian expressions.
Paul D. Gallant was looking for an investment in his private but socially oriented summer dinner-theatre business Les Productions Cuisine à Mémé, which is based in Mont-Carmel and could go on tour. Actor Albert Arsenault, in an old man character, supported him in his presentation.
Jacinthe Lemire proposed to further develop her online boutique of Island products, Shop PEI Marketplace, to give it more breadth and spread its market outside the province. She plans to add perishable products to her marketplace.
All finalists received a free one-year membership to the Acadian and Francophone Chamber of Commerce of PEI and a finalist certificate from RDÉE Prince Edward Island.
The $25,000 prize is provided by Innovation PEI’s Ignition Start-Up Fund. The competition itself is funded by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency and RDÉE PEI.