research & impact research & impact research & impact

We're committed to ethical research, data analysis, and open dissemination on cooperative operating models in Canada's interactive digital arts sector. All research conducted by Baby Ghosts is published freely for the public benefit. This work comprises:

Current projects

• Cooperative Studio Accelerator Network (CSAN): training 25 mentors across 4 hubs and publishing 4 region-specific toolkits under CC BY-SA.
• a national study and white paper on the efficacy of incubators/accelerators for sustainable creative teams in partnership with academic institutions and researchers
• Flywheel: our impact measurement framework that blends longitudinal surveys with alumni follow-ups, financial management, and program analysis
• coop.love: a forthcoming space for the cooperative game development movement, with free and open-source resources including how-tos and guides, facilitator guides, by-law samples, finance models, templates, toolkits, and a directory of co-ops around the world.

Our 2022 Funding Barriers report

Our exploration into barriers for Canadian game developers kicked off with a survey in 2021. We gathered firsthand insights from the community, learning about the experiences and challenges faced when accessing funding. Read our 2022 report.

We found significant disparities in access, particularly for marginalized creators, with cascading effects across the sector. Baby Ghosts continues to build on these findings through our ongoing research program.