Okanagan animators welcome return of regional tax credit

They all have production ties to studios in the Okanagan.

And it’s that industry clout Rick Mischel, the CEO and Founder of Artists Animation Studio, which is headquartered in Kelowna, hopes can continue to grow with the reintroduction of a provincial regional tax credit.

In February, the British Columbia government rolled back the distant and regional location animation tax credit to both save money and because it was being taken advantage of, he told Phil on the Early Edition.

Studios in Vancouver and Toronto were hiring freelance remote workers in places like the Okanagan and taking advantage of the tax credit, which was originally meant to support regional economic development, mainly in the Interior.

Now, the recently revived credit can only be claimed by companies with brick-and-mortar studios outside of Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley and Whistler/Squamish.

“Which I think is a better way to incentivise what you want to incentivise,” he said. “You want not individual freelance job growth. You want artists coming to a studio in the Okanagan. Youa re encouraging job growth, GDP growth, educational growth, cultural growth.”

The credit, Mischel said, will allow for more animators to be hired in the Okanagan and help studios stay competitive with the rest of Canada and the world.

“We are real players. You are talking about shows that stream on Netflix, Apple …Nickelodeon,” he said. “Now that the studios have been given this incentive back, we are going to be able to hire students, put them to work, and make some great stuff.”