Growing a trained digital media workforce in southwestern Ontario’s is our mandate. We are working to attract, train, and network new talent to expand the skilled workforce in the region. Our goal is to eventually grow a talent pipeline that will include youth, young adults, women, newcomers, and marginalized communities. To that end, we are building up the Media Arts Community Centre (MACC), and we need your help to realize these plans!
Donations of Any Amount are Appreciated
Zeffy (preferred): transaction fees are optional to the donor, and business or charitable receipts are available
eTransfer: team@windsorfilmmaking.com
Paypal: team@windsorfilmmaking.com
Capital Campaign Pledge Form for Large Contributions
To make a pledge, click here & download a fillable PDF form.
Cumulative Sponsorship Benefits
Donations of any amount can be donated via the links above. All contributors will receive a business or a charitable tax receipt. The choice is yours!
$500+
- Recognition on the website for at least 5 years
$1,000+
Previous benefits and:
- Additional recognition on social media
$5,000+
Previous benefits and:
- Additional recognition at our public events over 5 years
- Recognition in event printed and digital media for over 5 years
$10,000+
Previous benefits and:
- Recognition on our Donor Wall at the MACC
- Recognition in thank-you ads and articles in the Windsor Star in 2024/2025
- Recognition in published press releases and mentions throughout other media outlets and social media in 2024/2025
$25,000+
Previous benefits and:
- An opportunity to sponsor a room (including room signage)
- Opportunities to speak and/or be personally represented at events
- Others as requested
Other naming or sponsorship opportunities ($50,000 to $1,500,000) can also include name on event tickets.
Additional Benefits for Corporate Sponsors
We are also looking for companies to be included in our thank-you advertising.
Our downtown is important to the region, and keeping regional talent local is even more important. Together, we can prevent brain drain to larger urban centres and grow the digital media capacity of all industries and businesses in the region.
We are seeking 25 companies to contribute $10,000 of their advertising budget as a special effort that we are launching, and 10 companies to contribute $25,000.
Sponsor benefits include:
- Recognition in multiple thank-you ads and/or articles in the Windsor Star in 2024 and 2025
- Recognition in published press releases and mentions through other media outlets and social media in 2024 and 2025
- Recognition on our MACC Donor Wall
- Public event recognitions at the centre over 5 years
- Recognition in printed event programs over 5 years
- Recognition on our websites for at least 5 years
- Additional recognition on social media
A Joint Community-Based Project
The Windsor Centre for Film, Digital Media & the Creative Arts (est. 2012) is an Ontario-based non-profit organization that is working with its charity partner, the Media Arts Community Centre & Museum (2018), to raise funds to open a new, much-needed media arts facility in Downtown Windsor.
Interior demolition to the administration section of the facility began in September 2021. In June 2022, we gained full access.
Campaign
In order to make this project a reality, the We Grow Talent Campaign will raise $2,000,000 in private funds over five years, in three phases. The goal is to offer a creative space for all ages and from diverse cultures and ethnicities: including families, children, youth, young adults, emerging entrepreneurs, retirees, volunteers, seniors, and the general public.
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow, learn as if you were to live forever.” – Ghandi
The name to be given to the centre once open will be: the Media Arts Community Centre, or MACC for short. It is located at 664 Victoria Avenue, in downtown Windsor. The facility was originally built as a Temple Baptist Church in 1925 and had been home to the Downtown Mission for over 50 years. This iconic 22,000 sq ft facility stands in a convenient location, and it neighbours multiple street-level public parking lots with over 300 spaces combined.
Goals
In keeping with our shared mission and vision, the MACC will accommodate diverse teaching spaces (formal and informal), a unique auditorium licensed for 400 people, editing suites, a film/music studio, local film archives and museum displays, formal and casual meeting/networking spaces, a full-service kitchen, and an outdoor living room.
The building will be fully accessible with an elevator and a fire alarm system suited to the general public as well as the visually or hearing impaired. In the aim of sustainable development, our building plans include updated LED lighting system, a solar roof, and an organic waste management system.
The location has unused land to add an additional 10,000 sq ft of creative spaces (100 seat theatre and larger film production and music studios) in Phase 2, pending funds and city permits.
Mission
As collaborators, the two organizations are dedicated to growing talent and helping to create jobs in film, digital media, and the creative arts in Southwestern Ontario. Together, we ensure to include vulnerable and underrepresented populations.
We accomplish our shared goals through community-based education, training, mentoring, job placements, and more, making bursaries available to the financially disadvantaged.
Vision
To be a recognized leader in media arts, best known for growing talent and jobs in Southwestern Ontario.
Outdoor 50′ by 50′ gathering space with great furnishing, heaters, and BBQ; open May through October. Funded by FedDev Southern Ontario at 75%.
New roof and solar to help us conserve energy. Funded by FedDev Southern Ontario at 75%.
Interior demolition of the MACC funded by the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) at 44% by the Federal Government, 33% by the Government of Ontario, and 27% by private donors and corporate sponsors.
Interior revitalization in the new MACC auditorium funded by the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) at 40% by the Federal Government, 33% by the Province of Ontario, and 27% by private donors and corporate sponsors.
Our new and very versatile Community Commons. ICIP funded most of the restoration of this great meeting and indoor gathering space. FedDev Southern Ontario covered the new LED lights. In both cases, private supporters covered about 25%.
News Articles
The Awakening: Gala a celebration of growing the arts in Windsor – The Windsor Star (March 26th, 2023)
Windsor Centre for Film, Digital Media and the Creative Arts buys Downtown Mission building – The Windsor Star (June 17th, 2021)
Canada and Ontario governments invest over $2.9 million into new media arts centre Windsor – CTV News Windsor (June 17th, 2021)
Talent retention, attraction key to Windsor’s economic future: report – CTV News Windsor (February 4th, 2021)
Jarvis: Finally, a downtown plan that will work – The Windsor Star (February 18th, 2021)
The Project/Plans
Southern Ontario is proudly reinvesting itself as a region where diverse industries can flourish. The Media Arts Community Centre (MACC) will contribute to the cultural and economic development plans set forth by the municipal, provincial, and federal governments and economic development associations. Local arts, charitable, and non-profit groups will host small and large events in the city’s core; artists and filmmakers will host fundraising events to bring their ideas to fruition. Sliding scale rental fees will ensure sustainability since fees would convert ongoing maintenance, insurance, and utility costs.
“Filmmaking is the ultimate team sport.” – Michael Keaton
Young people and career seekers interested in filmmaking and digital media, including animation, graphic design, photography, music videos, web design, and gaming, will be attracted to opportunities which, in the past, others relocated to high-cost urban areas to explore. Producers, directors, authors, actors, costume designers, musicians, set builders, makeup artists, camera operators, musicians, and others will have access to an accessible, affordable venue to produce their craft. Accountants and lawyers will be busy chasing tax credits and contracts.
Opportunities
High school and post-secondary students will have opportunities for internships, co-ops, and job placements. Now that the University of Windsor has moved its Visual Arts, Music, and Media & Film programs downtown, and St. Clair College has its Mediaplex, MACC will be the perfect community-based facility for students to gain hands-on work experience. Students from other disciplines of study will also reap the benefits of having MACC as a community resource. Library science students will be intrigued by the archives and collections, human kinetics students will co-op in event planning, and business students will work for MACC as well as emerging businesses we support.
MACC will draw seasoned media and creative arts experts as visitors and tourists, some of whom will be from the area. They left to pursue their dreams and will return to serve as guest lecturers and visiting artists. They will teach and mentor to help us grow regional talent in Windsor-Essex, Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton.
Transferable Skills
Filmmaking tests one’s creative and technological abilities, and it teach leadership, teamwork, discipline, coordination, time management, strategy, self-discipline, patience, understanding, the importance of diverse ideas, endurance, quality control, budgeting, and many other skills that help achieve success in other sectors.
We don’t make movies to make more money. We make money to make more movies.” – Walt Disney
Charitable Donations and Sponsorships
If you are interested in donating to or sponsoring one of the following programs, rather than making a capital contribution, we can also make that possible. Our programs run year-round, both in-person and virtually.
- Film Camp for Kids & Youth (ages 8-18)
- Year-Round Adult Education (ages 19-75)
- Plugged In: Seniors’ and Retirees’ Programming (ages 55+)
- Training and Education programs
- Networking Events
- Special Events and Programs
- Sponsorship of Independent Films
To Make a Pledge, Click Here & Download a Fillable PDF Form!
“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.” – Pablo Picasso
To request additional information, contact:
Amanda Gellman
Email: team@windsorfilmmaking.com
Chair, Media Arts Community Centre & Museum
President, Windsor Centre for Film, Digital Media & the Creative Arts
Founder, Film Camp for Kids & Youth