MPPIA Celebrates Creative Industries Week 2017: Industry Youth Mentor Jim Crescenzo is Honoured with the ai???BC Creates Community Builders’ Award

As part of BC’s Creative Industries Week celebration, the Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC (MPPIA) gathered with colleagues from across the screen production sector tonight to celebrate a collective commitment to community engagement. ai???BC Creates Community Builders’ captures the spirit and intent of the industry’s social participation with valued community partners.

MPPIA presented the second ai???BC Creates Community Builders’ Award to industry veteran mentor Jim Crescenzo, to recognize his outstanding community citizenship. Jim is being honoured for his decades of leadership mentoring Vancouver’s youth at risk through the Dream Big Productions program based at Templeton Secondary. The program has successfully redirected marginalized young people into training for film, television and theatre arts ‘ restoring a sense of hope, confidence and purpose in hundreds of vulnerable kids.

ai???One of the most important pillars of our community engagement, is our commitment to lead the way for BC youth, our next generation of talent,’ said MPPIA Chair Peter Leitch. ai???Jim Crescenzo is among the rare few who take that commitment to an extraordinary level and we are proud to honour his contributions. The ai???BC Creates Community Builders’ Award is about setting examples for us to follow,ai??? Leitch added.

Tonight’s award was presented by last year’s recipient, Danny Virtue, who was recognized in 2016 with the inaugural BC Creates Community Builder Award for his own extraordinary contributions through the Virtue Foundation .

The Motion Picture Production Industry Association of BC (MPPIA) is a member-based, non-profit society established in April 2002 to grow, diversify and promote a competitive and sustainable motion picture production industry in British Columbia.

BC Creates is a branded communications initiative established by creative industry stakeholders to celebrate and engage British Columbia in the story of the Province’s vibrant creative economy @bccreates #bccreates www.bccreates.com

Left to right: Danny Virtue, George Paterson (MPPIA) and Jim Crescenzo,

recipient of the 2017 BC Creates Community Builders Award and a $10K

donation to Dream Big Productions by MPPIA.