Prairie Winter
Studio Jam

Apply on your own. Join your jam studio

Cooperative Foundations has always been for teams. This winter, for the first time, you can apply solo. We'll place you in a small jam studio with game devs and media artists from across the Prairies.

You're not making a game together. You're practising the hard part of working together – decision-making, disagreeing well, converging on shared values, writing down what you've agreed. Doing it with people you don't know stretches you and builds your collaboration muscles more than working with friends would.

If you're already in a studio/collective/group, apply anyway, on your own. You may end up in a different jam studio than your current team.

Alberta studios that already exist: applications for the next Alberta Studio Residency open Friday, October 31. That one you take together, as the team you already are.

Learn on your own time, then practise with your studio

• A recorded module, about an hour, on your own time.
• A short assignment, 20 to 30 minutes, on your own time.
• A live session with your studio, 1 to 1.5 hours. Picking the time is your studio's first decision together.

Plus two live sessions with the whole cohort, kickoff on November 18 and wrap-up on January 27.

Eight self-paced modules on cooperative work

1. 01Co-op principles and power
2. 02Shared purpose and alignment
3. 03Actionable values and impact
4. 04Decision-making in practice
5. 05Co-op structures and governance
6. 06Equitable economics
7. 07Conflict resolution and collective care
8. 08Self-evaluation and pathways

Added for the Prairies

• +Cooperative legislation in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta
• +Incorporation pathways
• +Provincial tax incentives
• +Regional funding

The curriculum is our Cooperative Foundations program, which 30+ studios have taken since 2021.

You don't need to be part of a studio to apply

But you don't lose points if you are! And you don't need to know anything about co-ops yet either. You can apply if:

• You live in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, or Alberta
• You are 18 or older
• You make games or media art, or you want to Whatever you do – design, art, code, writing, audio, production, community, marketing, publishing – is good enough! And it can be artistic or commercial.
• You are interested in cooperative ways of working with collaborators
• You can take part in the live sessions between November 18 and January 27 Kickoff and wrap-up are with the whole cohort. In between, your studio meets once a week at a time it picks, somewhere between Wednesday and Sunday.

We know game devs and artists have busy and overextended lives, and are often not doing this work full time. We all have different learning styles and paces too, which is why the modules are recorded and only the studio practice is live. You don't have to have perfect attendance, but we do want to know you intend to participate as fully as you can and are committed to the program.

Ask for what you need on the form

We can help with support workers, childcare, alternative formats, and internet connectivity stipends. Asking does not affect selection and we don't ask you to explain anything.

You can answer the written questions in text, by audio, or on video. All three are read the same way. Sessions are captioned and transcribed as standard. There is no cost to participants.

Your identity is private

The program centres creators who face barriers in the industry: Indigenous, Black and racialized, women and gender-diverse, 2SLGBTQ+, disabled, and rural or remote developers.

The selection panel scores four things:

Cooperative interest

We are looking for curiosity! You certainly do not need direct experience.

Clarity of goals

Do you know what you want from this?

Peer & community contribution

Tell us what you bring to the full group. You have many gifts and talents, and we value the willingness to pass them on.

Fit with the program

Are you interested in how to run a cooperative studio? Remember: This is not a game jam.

We also ask what has been hard about doing this work where you are. We read that answer carefully and we don't score it, because barriers can't be ranked against each other. It's weighed in conversation by people who know the region. You don't have to name any identity or share anything you don't want to.

Access needs you tell us about are not seen by reviewers and never affect selection. They go to the people running the program so the support is ready for you on day one.

Applicants will be notified by October 23. Everyone hears back, including if the answer is no. There are no additional screening forms or interviews once you have applied.