Service a la carte: firm adding new twist to consulting services.

• Author: Kelly, Lindsay
• Position: SUDBURY

The year 2011 is best described as one of change for Tara Levesque, Dennis Landry and Mike Large. After a decade each at Music and Film in Motion (MFM), the Sudbury-based trio decided to launch its own consulting firm, building on the foundation of what they had started at MFM.

"We all knew we wanted a change and that if there was going to be a perfect time for it to happen this would be the time, that we would all have to jump on it," said Levesque, who spent nine years as MFM's director of programming. "Otherwise, I know I would have just gone back to work and fallen back into similar patterns and maybe always wondered, 'What if I'd said something out loud, what if I'd acted on an idea I'd had about moving on."

Copperworks Consulting offers an a la carte menu of services that clients can pick and choose from, only paying for the services they need. Included in the firm's area of expertise are artist services, organization and support services, film production and sector support, and event planning and management.

Their diverse roster of clients includes Ottawa Area Ontario Early Years Centres, Sudbury country musician Larry Berrio, the Greater Sudbury Development Corporation and Jazz Sudbury. The event was recently named Best New Festival and listed as one of the Top 100 Festivals in the province by Festivals and Events Ontario.

All three recognized that living in the North and working in the entertainment and events industry posed some limitations, since there were only so many outlets where their skills and experience were needed. But with the industry enjoying an extended boom in the North, Landry was confident there would be a place for a consulting firm like theirs.

"It's an exciting time to be involved in any of these industries, regardless of what your role is, and for us it was time to play a different role, and in some ways to become more hands-on," Landry said.

Ironically, the majority of Copperworks' clients aren't even based in Sudbury; work has come from Timmins, Ottawa, Huntsville, North Bay and beyond. It was a unanticipated twist in their plan, but something that has come as a pleasant surprise.

"We're not beholden to just working with people in Northern Ontario, although we really want to and look forward to doing that," said Large, who has worked in...