WINNIPEG, June 4, 2024 – At the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce‘s 16th annual Spirit of Winnipeg Awards Gala, Film Training Manitoba was awarded the Workplace Culture and CODE Award.
The Spirit of Winnipeg Awards Gala celebrates and honours Winnipeg-based organizations that are making a significant impact in their communities. The Spirit of Winnipeg Award, nominated and selected by the Winnipeg Chamber’s Board of Directors, recognizes outstanding efforts and commitments to making Winnipeg a better, more prosperous community through corporate leadership and social responsibility.
The Workplace Culture and CODE Award celebrates businesses that foster exceptional workplace cultures through diversity, inclusion, and employee well-being. This award highlights organizations committed to building positive spaces for employees and creating equitable workplaces that align with The Chamber’s CODE (Commitment to Opportunity, Diversity, and Equity) initiative. The other nominees included Coal & Canary and Shindico.
“It’s a major honour for Film Training Manitoba to be recognized with the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce’s Spirit of Winnipeg award. Our entire team at FTM deeply appreciates the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce recognizing our work,” said FTM’s SWIFT’s chairperson, Tanya Mazur.
FTM’s Canada’s SWIFT Conference was founded by FTM and created by a group of 15 women film professionals to design the first SWIFT Conference program. The overall aim of SWIFT was to deliver a greater level of skills development for women crew members, filmmakers, performers, and anyone interested in film and media. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the first SWIFT Conference was held in 2021.
Canada’s SWIFT Conference is the only annual conference ever developed to focus on learning for women working in trade positions within the film industry. All speakers, panels, and training sessions are centred around improving the workplace culture to retain and attract more women-identifying workers within the film and media industry.
Past SWIFT speakers have included the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, two-time Oscar-nominated director Rory Kennedy, Winnipeg’s first woman mayor Susan Thompson, Crown Prosecutor Chantel Boutin, former MP and Film Producer Tina Keeper, and Doctor Hygiea Casiano, who is the current President of the Canadian Psychiatric Association.
With the success of the first SWIFT Conference in 2021, FTM created a new SWIFT division to conduct customized SWIFT technical training sessions such as Women’s Camera Lab, Hair and Make-Up courses, and a Post-Production course with the Manitoba production company Farpoint Films for women-identifying and gender-diverse individuals. FTM also conducted a special SWIFT Master Class in filmmaking at the Manitoba Institute of Trades and Technology (MITT).
FTM’s SWIFT Committee is currently planning our fourth SWIFT Conference, scheduled for the fall of 2025. Over 400 women-identifying and gender-diverse workers have participated in our past SWIFT initiatives, and we are eagerly anticipating the next conference this fall.
About FTM
Film Training Manitoba (FTM) is a non-for-profit charity and our goal is to develop a highly skilled and adaptable workforce to support the activities of Manitoba’s film industry. FTM partners with Manitoba’s secondary and post-secondary schools, Manitoba film festivals, unions, production companies, associations, and a wide collection of industry stakeholders.
FTM collaborates with members of the film industry to identify the training needs within the community. With this information, we offer practical, skill-based training that is targeted where labour gaps occur.
For media and investor inquiries, please contact:
Jenna Paterson-Coutts
P: 204-989-9669
jenna@filmtraining.mb.ca
FTM is a non-for-profit charity and member of the Province of Manitoba’s Sector Council program funded through the Economic Development, Investment, Trade and Natural Resources. FTM builds a highly skilled and adaptable film industry workforce to support the activities of Manitoba production companies. FTM collaborates and partners with members of the film industry to identify training needs to support workforce development.