Cinevolution Media Arts Society

What Cinevolution Media Arts Society does

Cinevolution Media Arts Society is a grassroots, migrant-driven, grant-funded non-profit film and media arts organization headquartered in Richmond, British Columbia, founded in 2007 by three first-generation immigrant women — Ying Wang, Rachel Fan, and Lynn Chen. Itself described as the first and only media arts organization in Richmond, it serves immigrant and marginalized communities, BIPOC artists with lived experience of disability, newcomer and culturally diverse youth, and Asian diaspora audiences across Metro Vancouver, with selected programming reaching national and international scope through documentary partnerships. All programming is offered free to the public. The organization is governed by an independent board (Chair Sean Cao; Directors Daniel Chen, Marina Szijarto, Sophia Mai Wolfe) and staffed by a small core team of five led by Executive Director Yun-Jou Chang, with co-founder Ying Wang as Artistic Director.

Name

Cinevolution Media Arts Society

Legal name

Cinevolution Media Arts Society

Website

https://cinevolutionmedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cinevolution Media Arts Society is a grassroots, migrant-driven non-profit film and media arts organization in Richmond, BC, delivering free festivals, screenings, multimedia projects, and micro-grants to immigrant, BIPOC, and disabled communities in Metro Vancouver since 2007.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Film and Media Arts Programming

NAICS

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation (71), Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries (711)

SIC

Services-Motion Picture Theaters (7830)

akta.pro primary industry

Media Arts & Film/Photography Nonprofits (BPAGAHAJ)

akta.pro secondary industries

Community & Cultural Screenings (Museums, Cultural Centers) (MPADAKAH), Arts Education & Community Arts Programs (BPAGAHAC), Fringe & Experimental Performing Arts (MPAGABAI)

Keywords

• Film festival programming
• Media arts curation
• Community cultural events
• Film screenings curation
• Arts podcast production

Headquarters

HQ city

Richmond

HQ country

Canada

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Government and Foundation Grants: Cinevolution is primarily funded through government arts grants (Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, Government of British Columbia) and foundation support (City of Richmond, City of Vancouver, Vancouver Heritage Foundation, Creative BC). This is a grant-dependent non-profit revenue model.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Cinevolution Media Arts Society is a grassroots, migrant-driven non-profit that curates and delivers film and media arts programming for immigrant and marginalized communities. It operates festivals, screenings, podcasts, and arts grants as free public programming, primarily in the Richmond, BC area and the broader Lower Mainland.

Product overview

Cinevolution Media Arts Society is a grassroots, migrant-driven film and media arts organization offering a diverse portfolio of programs and projects. The organization operates primarily as an event-based arts nonprofit rather than a software technology company. Its core offerings include recurring festivals (Digital Carnival, Your Kontinent Festival, New Asia Film Festival), film forums (DocuAsia Forum), community media programs (Media Café, Youth Media Outreach, Dream Project), multimedia art projects (Underwater Chinatown, Art Talking Women, Surviving Samsara, Suzhou Alley Women's Mural, Weaving Mago), grant programs (Media Art Micro Grants), a podcast series (In Tanglement), accessibility initiatives (Digital Roundtable), and special film screening events. These programs are delivered as independent projects and events rather than through a unified software platform or product suite.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Film and Media Arts Festival A curated annual or recurring festival presenting film and media art works, with a focus on immigrant, migrant, and marginalized community voices, offered as free public programming.
• Community Film Screenings Public film screening events curated for local immigrant and marginalized audiences, programmed to foster cultural dialogue and representation.
• Media Arts Podcast An audio podcast series covering film and media arts topics, amplifying migrant and underrepresented voices in the cultural sector.
• Artist Grants Program A granting program that provides financial and production support to independent media artists, particularly those from immigrant and marginalized communities.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

18 partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• National Film Board of CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-presenter of the Desiring Bodies Mad Pride Month program. Provided film prints and courtesy of NFB for 'Sisters' and 'Am I the skinniest person you've ever seen?'. Also provided films 'Sisters and Brothers' (Kent Monkman) and 'Very Nice, Very Nice' (Arthur Lipsett) for the Who Roams the Earth National Canadian Film Day program.
• Connection SaloncoreGTM or Marketing PartnerCo-presenter of the Desiring Bodies Mad Pride Month double-bill film screening with Ying Wang's 'Sisters' and Eisha Marjara's documentary short.
• Reel CanadacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerInitiative partner for National Canadian Film Day 2025. Cinevolution presented 'Who Roams the Earth' programming as part of the national Reel Canada initiative.
• Vancouver Heritage FoundationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner for the Suzhou Alley Women's Mural project, providing ongoing support alongside Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent Association, Chinatown Transformation Team, Chinatown Legacy Stewardship Group, UBC Quan Lee Excellence Fund for Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies, and United Aunties Arts Association.
• Lim Sai Hor Kow Mock Benevolent AssociationminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerBuilding partner for Suzhou Alley Women's Mural. The mural's original site was planned for the south exterior wall of the Lim Sai Hor Association Building at 525 Carrall St. facing Suzhou Alley.
• Chinese Cultural Centre Museum of Greater VancouverminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for the Underwater Chinatown digital storytelling workshop phase. Presented the all-ages digital storytelling workshop in Chinatown alongside Cinevolution and composer Yawen Wang.
• Disability Alliance BCminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSupport partner for the Digital Roundtable discussions on intersectional accessibility, alongside Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, and Reel Asian's Codes of Contact initiative.
• Reel Asian's Codes of Contact InitiativeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner supporting the Digital Roundtable events on intersectional accessibility alongside Canada Council for the Arts, BC Arts Council, City of Vancouver, and Disability Alliance BC.
• David Lam Centre (Simon Fraser University)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerEarly collaborator on DocuAsia Forum. Professor Shuyu Kong from David Lam Centre was a steering community member in the inaugural DocuAsia program, and former director Dr. Paul Crow supported early programming.
• CNEX (non-profit documentary foundation)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerNon-profit foundation dedicated to facilitating cultural exchange between people of Chinese descent and the rest of the world through documentary film. First DocuAsia (2009) and 2010 program featured CNEX-produced films.
• Theatre ConspiracyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership performance of 'Extraction' in 2013 as part of DocuAsia's broader program tackling labour and resource extraction issues.
• Theatre TerrificcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-producer of Surviving Samsara, the multimedia, multidisciplinary project by Kagan Goh exploring experiences of madness. Cinevolution works with Theatre Terrific to develop Surviving Samsara as a theatre production.
• VIVO Media Arts CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-production partner with Cinevolution and Dragu Workers International (DWI) on Art Talking Women series. Long-standing community partner for media programming.
• Dragu Workers International (DWI)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-production partner with Cinevolution and VIVO Media Arts Centre on the Art Talking Women series of intimate conversations with woman-identified artists.
• Richmond Media LabminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-term community partner for Media Café series. The Dream Project inspired the establishment of the Richmond Media Lab inside the Richmond Cultural Centre, where Cinevolution held media and technology workshops.
• Richmond Cultural CentrecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary venue partner for Media Café (2008), Your Kontinent Festival, Digital Carnival (2016 Water theme under 'Big Top' tents), Youth Media Outreach, National Canadian Film Day, and Weaving Mago artist talk. Houses the Richmond Media Lab.
• UBC Learning ExchangeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCommunity partner for the Underwater Chinatown digital stories workshop alongside Chinese Cultural Centre Museum.
• Richmond Winter FestivalminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborated with Cinevolution to transform Dream Project short films into a public art installation via digital mapping projected onto the Richmond Olympic Oval façade.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF): VIFF is the largest film festival in Western Canada and a major Vancouver cultural institution. It operates in the same geographic market as Cinevolution but at vastly larger scale and broader programming mandate; VIFF is a broad incumbent that competes for the same pool of municipal and provincial arts funding.
• Hot Docs: Toronto-based documentary festival and organization. Hot Docs is the Canadian documentary-film incumbent — Cinevolution's DocuAsia Forum operates in a similar documentary-screening-plus-discussion format but with an Asia-specific curatorial focus and smaller scale.
• National Film Board of Canada (NFB): Canada's national public film producer and distributor. NFB is a co-presenter of Cinevolution's Desiring Bodies and National Canadian Film Day programs — NFB operates as a broad incumbent providing film prints and content, while Cinevolution curates and distributes to community audiences.

Direct peers

• imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival: Toronto-based Indigenous screen media arts organization and festival. imagineNATIVE shares Cinevolution's community-led model, focus on underrepresented storytellers, and combination of festival programming with year-round artist development — both function as movement-building arts nonprofits rather than commercial festivals.
• VIVO Media Arts Centre: Vancouver-based media arts nonprofit focused on experimental film, video, audio, and new media. VIVO is a long-standing co-production partner with Cinevolution on the Art Talking Women series, and serves a similarly grassroots, artist-driven community with comparable program formats.
• Vancouver Asian Film Festival (VAFF): VAFF is a Vancouver-based nonprofit film festival celebrating Asian diasporic cinema and administers the Richard K. Wong Film Fund — both directly parallel Cinevolution's mandate around Asian-Canadian media representation. VAFF has provided production funding to filmmakers featured on Cinevolution's In Tanglement podcast, indicating direct programmatic overlap.
• Reel Asian International Film Festival: Toronto-based festival dedicated to Asian diaspora cinema and a partner with Cinevolution on the Codes of Contact initiative for accessibility. Same community-mandated, diaspora-focused curatorial approach but operating in a different Canadian market with a longer festival history.

Regional players

• MAI (Montréal, Arts Interculturels): Montreal-based nonprofit presenting intercultural contemporary arts. MAI parallels Cinevolution's mission of platforming immigrant and diaspora artists with comparable community-anchored programming, but operates primarily in Quebec with a different funder ecosystem.
• PuSh International Performing Arts Festival: Vancouver-based festival presenting boundary-pushing performing arts. PuSh overlaps with Cinevolution's experimental-media and cross-disciplinary programming (e.g., Surviving Samsara with Theatre Terrific), and shares Vancouver audiences and municipal funders.

Others

• Canadian Filmmakers Distribution Centre (CFMDC): Toronto-based nonprofit distributor of independent Canadian film. CFMDC supports the same independent/artist-run media ecosystem Cinevolution operates in — both organizations are filmmaker-service nonprofits rather than commercial entities, and they frequently collaborate on screening programs for underserved filmmakers.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/c_media_art
• Facebookfacebook.com/cinevolution
• Instagraminstagram.com/cinevolution

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cinevolution Media Arts Society