No cultural activity in Quebec escapes the attention of Louise Lantagne, BA’77, CEO of the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles, better known by the acronym SODEC.
SODEC is the flagship of cultural production in Quebec. The organization supports all the province’s various artforms: film, music, book publishing, visual arts, cultural heritage, digital creation and arts and crafts. Its annual budget of $230 million represents a quarter of the total budget of Quebec’s Ministry of Culture and Communications, and that’s not counting the $700 million in tax credits it generates.
SODEC’s support made it possible for the Quebec film Une Langue universelle to win the Audience Award at the Cannes Film Festival and to be chosen to represent Canada for Best Foreign Film at the next Oscars. The organization also helped Quebec novelists Kevin Lambert and Éric Chacour make their mark in France (where they won the Prix Médicis 2023 and the Prix Femina des Lycéens 2023, respectively). Germany, France and Belgium all acquired the rights to the popular Quebec TV series Plan B thanks, in large part, to SODEC’s involvement.
“Our job is to promote culture every way we can,” explains Lantagne. In practice this can take many forms, such as organizing cultural missions, running booths at key festivals in Cannes, Berlin and Frankfurt, and fostering useful connections – for example, between music publishers and film music supervisors in Toronto. “We create opportunities,” says Lantagne.
Lantagne envisioned a different job for herself when she was younger. “I had originally considered a career in publishing, but never found the door into it.” She studied French and Quebec literature at McGill and received a Governor General’s Gold Medal for her academic achievements. “I loved my three years at McGill for the academic quality and cultural diversity.”
She studied law at the Université de Montréal, then worked as a lawyer for Quebec’s Minister Responsible for the Condition of Women and, later, for the Office of Child Services. On the side, she wrote novels that never found a publisher. Her first stint at SODEC began in 1991. “Instead of reading books [for a publisher], I read screenplays.”
Lantagne spent eight years there, then the next 15 at Radio-Canada, where she held senior positions in both radio and television. She was working as the vice president and executive producer of Attraction, an independent television and visual media producer, when she was approached by a head-hunting agency about the top job at SODEC.
Initially, she said no. She was content at Attraction where she was able to work more closely with creators. Lantagne also wasn’t sure she wanted to deal with the pressures that would likely be associated with leading SODEC.
The head-hunters urged her to reconsider. “They told me rethink my decision and just go for it.” Lantagne thought about the unique opportunity that was being presented to her – to run a public agency that played such a crucial role in supporting Quebec culture. “That changed my mind.”
“Our job is to promote culture every way we can. We create opportunities.”
Louise Lantagne, president and director general of SODEC
SODEC is a unique organization in Canada and one of the two main bodies that promotes cultural production in Quebec, the other being the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ), which has roughly the same budget. “The CALQ is mainly for creators and artists, while SODEC is for artistic businesses,” she explains.
SODEC’s new slogan—Briller ici comme ailleurs (“Shine here and beyond”) – aptly summarizes the work of a complex organization whose 137 employees manage a multitude of programs, subsidies and tax credits.
Most of SODEC’s support is for developing entrepreneurial expertise in areas like taxes, strategy, international development, corporate structure and financing, intellectual property and general business skills.
Thanks to its large cultural footprint, SODEC turns up in some surprising places. Anyone watching the end credits for Deadpool & Wolverine, one of the world’s biggest cinematic hits this past year, might have been surprised to see SODEC’s logo appear on screen. The visual effects studio Framestore – including its Montreal-based branch – worked on the film, and the Montreal office benefitted from tax credits thanks to SODEC.
Having recently secured a new five-year mandate at SODEC, Lantagne is now looking to the future. Changing practices and new technologies mean that SODEC needs to keep up with the times.
Lantagne cites a new program that supports the producers of multimedia experiences, a sector where Quebec has been making its mark. Among the 17 companies to benefit from it were Quebec mega successes Moment Factory and Felix & Paul Studios.
Lantagne is delighted to see that Canada is finally starting to regulate cyberspace through the CRTC (she has been working with federal agencies on the subject). “There is no miracle solution on the horizon. We are working closely with France, which is very advanced in streaming royalties. We have a long journey ahead of us, so we’ve decided to just go for it and take our rightful place.”
She and her colleagues are reviewing the operations of SODEC’s business bank. In its current structure, with $34 million in capital, it offers mostly loans or loan guarantees. She would like it to be able to make more direct investments. “At the moment, we can’t invest without cabinet approval. We need more autonomy.”
This investment bank has been involved in several recent takeovers of Quebec cultural businesses, including KOTV, Trio Orange, Encore and Attraction. “We want to be able to keep our best companies in Quebec when their founders step down. In the past, our business bank has helped finance takeovers by a second generation, but there is a lot more we can do.”
SODEC is also working to ensure greater cultural diversity. It already dedicates 20 per cent of its funds to projects in languages other than French – the dialogue of the film Une Langue universelle, for example, is in French and Farsi – but SODEC wants to go further.
The agency has largely promoted more diversity in the cultural sectors by encouraging producers to set aside specific projects for teams with diverse backgrounds, Lantagne explains. But in discussions with the individuals who benefitted from those rules, it became apparent that many wanted to be able to develop their own companies. Their priority was finding a way to hang on to their intellectual property.
So, SODEC will now focus more on matching new creative talents with established companies, but in a way that guarantees the artists will retain their rights. “It’s in line with what we’ve always done,” says Lantagne. “We’ll be there to support them.”
