Peer Supports

Dedicated support, not a classroom

Game devs and media artists from across the Prairies apply on their own, and we put them into small jam studios. Each studio gets a Peer Support, and that studio is yours for the whole jam.

The studio is not jamming on a game. They're practising the hard part of working together: deciding things, disagreeing well, writing down what they've agreed. Each week they watch a recorded module and do a short assignment on their own, then meet you live to practise it with their new collaborators. Your job is the live hour: keeping the room steady, noticing who hasn't spoken, and letting the group do its own work.

Before any of that, in October, you help read and score the Studio Jam applications that build the cohort. You read them without names or identifying details attached.

Positions are limited. How many we hire depends on how many people apply to the Studio Jam, which closes October 16.

$3,320 CAD

$2,000 flat for supporting your studio, paid monthly from October to January, plus $1,320 for training.

Reviewer briefing

2

Reading and scoring applications

6

Training, October to early November

14

Two practice reviews with a lead

4

Helping train the January group

2

Completion record and buffer

4

Rehearsal circle and prep

3

Kickoff

2

Seven studio sessions

10.5

Wrap-up

2

Session prep

4

Supporting your studio between sessions

5

Monthly check-in with us

3

About

61 hours

These are estimates. You may find yourself working more than this; please let us know so we can adjust!

Three live sessions, and about eight hours on your own

You don't need to arrive knowing co-op governance. It's built for people who have been in a group that decided things together and want to get better at it.

• You work on your own from October 19 to November 1, about eight hours: recorded modules on co-op governance and structure, plus the Cooperative Foundations material your studio will work on.
• Three live sessions run November 2, 4 and 6, two hours each: running a studio, conflict and boundaries, and the Prairie context.
• An optional rehearsal circle the week of November 9 lets you run a session with the other Peer Supports first.
• Two practice reviews follow, in December and January, with a lead Peer Support. They are support, not assessment.
• You finish with a completion record and a letter you can use.

The live sessions are recorded and captioned. Peer Supports in Toronto, Vancouver and Halifax train on them in January, and you may be asked to join one of those sessions. That is the two hours in the table above.

Modules drop Mondays, you meet later in the week

• We will have a live kickoff with the whole cohort on Wednesday, November 18. We'll welcome the full group first, get everyone to introduce themselves, then each studio is off into its own room with its Peer Support.
• There are eight recorded modules, dropping between November 23 and January 25. Participants watch on their own time and spend a bit of time on a solo exercise or reflection.
• After each module, you'll host a live session with your studio, 1 to 1.5 hours, at a time the studio picks somewhere between Wednesday and Sunday. You'll run seven studio sessions in all. Picking the slot is the studio's first decision together.
• We've built in a two-week break, December 21 to January 3.
• And finally, we'll hold a live wrap-up with the whole cohort on Wednesday, January 27.

There is no fixed day or time. Peer Supports end up on different slots across the week, some of them on weekends. The form asks which windows could work for you, and we match you to a studio with everyone's availability in mind.

Full schedule

The dates marked required are live, and you need to be at every one. Everything else is flexible or self-paced.

October 9

Applications close, 11:59 pm CT

October 16

Everyone hears back

October 19

Contract starts. Reviewer briefing this week, about two hours

October 19 to November 1

Self-paced training, about eight hours, on your own schedule

October 20 to 29

Reading and scoring Studio Jam applications, about six hours

November 2, 4, and 6

Required. Three live training sessions, two hours each

Week of November 9

Rehearsal circle, optional. Not on November 11

November 16

Required. Onboarding

November 18

Required. Kickoff with the whole cohort

November 25 to January 24

Required. Your studio's weekly session, seven in all, with a break December 21 to January 3

Week of December 14

First practice review with a lead, about two hours

Week of January 18

Second practice review with a lead, about two hours

January 27

Required. Wrap-up with the whole cohort

January 31

Contract ends

You've been in a group, of any kind, that shared its decisions

You don't need to have done this before, and you don't need to be a co-op expert. The training exists to build on what you already have. You need all three of these:

• You live in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, or Alberta
• You are legally able to work in Canada as a contractor
• You can be at every live date (training on November 2, 4 and 6, onboarding on November 16, kickoff on November 18 and wrap-up on January 27) and run your studio's weekly session

And we read these two closely:

• You've been part of a group that shared its decisions A co-op, an art collective, a band, a volunteer committee, a union local, something with no name at all. Any kind, any size. We want to hear what your role was and how it actually worked.
• You've sat through a hard group decision and can talk about how it went We are more interested in how it went than whether it went well.

We build the group with an eye to who faces barriers in the industry: Indigenous, Black and racialized, women and gender-diverse, 2SLGBTQ+, disabled, and rural or remote creators. Across everyone we train this year, at least 70 per cent come from those communities. Baby Ghosts alumni are welcome to apply. So is anyone who has never heard of us.

Your identity is private

The written questions can be answered in text, audio, or video, and all three are read the same way. Two reviewers read every application independently, without your name, email, or pronouns, and write a comment beside every score. They look at:

Collective experience

Have you been inside a structure where ownership or decisions were shared, and can you describe how it worked?

How you think about process

When a group had to decide something hard, do you reflect on what happened, including your own part?

Running the room, not the class

Do you understand what a group of strangers needs from the person supporting the meeting?

Readiness to support someone else

Have you supported someone else's work before, in any setting? Would you be steady in the room?

Being honest and specific is the most helpful to us.

Access needs you tell us about are never seen by reviewers and never affect selection; they go to the people running the program so the support is ready for you.

There are no interviews or further forms after you apply. You will hear back from us by October 16, whatever the answer is.