About the Program

Dates: Tuesdays, January 14th to February 25th, 2025

Times: 6 - 8 pm EST
Location: Google Meets (online)

From budgeting basics to HST, this program uses theory and practical tools to teach the fundamentals of financial management for creatives. Over 14 hours of training with Generator, you’ll develop skills in financial planning and basic project accounting, build a financial system specific to your capacity and needs, and gain the confidence to expand those systems as your career grows over time.

The program is taught by Kristina Lemieux, Audrey Quinn, Natasha Mytnowych, Bianca Guimarães, and Chris Enns. Instructors will be available for thirty minutes before each class to answer any questions. In addition, all participants will have access to bookable Financial Joy office hours on Zoom from October-June with Kristina or Bianca. The program is focused on the performing arts and film/TV, with registration open to all artists, Canada-wide.

The program is designed for synchronous learning and is highly participatory. We strongly recommend that participants attend each session at the designated dates/times. While recordings of select sessions may be available upon request, we do not typically share recordings without consent from all participants, due to the nature of the sensitive information shared in program sessions.

Access to Google Sheets and/or Microsoft Excel is required.
Find testimonials from past participants here.

Questions? Email bianca@generatorto.com

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Class Descriptions

Excelerate Your Projects

Do you take one look at a spreadsheet and feel ready to throw in the towel? We’re here for you! Excelerate your way to balanced budgets and beautiful, easy-to-use tools and documents. Excel (and its no-cost friend, Google Sheets) can support you in so many ways, from personal budgeting, to scheduling and invoicing. Put away that old-school calculator and let Excel do the work for you! This is a very basic course that will cover the use of Google Sheets for basic formatting, math formulas, and SUM, COUNT, AVERAGE. If you are confident in your Excel skills you may choose to skip this.

Arm Yourself with Capitalism’s Tools & Keep Track of that Cash

How much should I set aside to pay my taxes? What do I do with all these receipts? Can we afford a cast party? One of the most stressful parts of being self-employed is keeping track of how your money moves over time. This class will help you understand your relationship to money, and the way your values affect how you track your cash. You’ll learn the basics of project accounting and have a better sense of how to keep track of that cash.

#RelationshipGoals—The Government + You

Making art means working with the government, but that doesn’t need to panic you! Learn more about the Canadian tax system and how you two can work together. We’ll go over the various ways you may organize your money and how that relates to the CRA, as well as the basics of GST/HST. From tax forms to key terms, this class will ensure you’re comfortable with the compliance requirements of making your own work and working for yourself.

T4 You or T4 Me?

When you’re self-producing, there’s nothing better than assembling the perfect team. But that team needs to get paid, and it can be hard to know exactly what your responsibilities are. We’ll cover different types of agreements, deductions and remittances, and working with unions. We’ll use example scenarios and simple worksheets to help make sure you’re dotting all your Is and crossing your Ts.

Spending Your Money in the Future

You might call it retirement, or you might want to work as long as you possibly can. Either way, there are certain problems that come in the last third of our lives, that aren't present beforehand. In this session, we'll wrap our brains around long-term planning. We'll explore your needs, the government programs (CPP, OAS, GIS) available to help fill those needs, and review all the terms and tools that come into play. In the end, we'll build some long-term projections, and discuss pros and cons for different strategies and how they relate to your circumstances.

Putting it into Practice

We’ll introduce you to a template to create a budget, manage cash flow, and start tracking your income and expenses. By the end of this process, you’ll be able to stop asking ‘where did all my money go?’ and be ready to file those taxes!

Jordan Mechano Bursary for Financial Literacy

Since 2021, the Jordan Mechano Bursary for Financial Literacy has covered program fees for selected participants.

Together with the family, friends, and colleagues of Jordan Mechano, we are thrilled to honour Jordan’s legacy with this bursary. Jordan Mechano was a valuable member of the Toronto theatre community as an actor, writer, and live performance artist. His work was seen in Toronto and Glasgow, Scotland. Jordan had a strong connection with Generator, having taken the Financial Literacy course in 2018.

Thanks to the donations gathered since early 2020 we are able to support independent artists as they seek support and guidance to continue making art while managing their finances with greater efficiency.

This initiative is something we believe Jordan would have supported and we are so pleased to be able to offer this bursary.

Featured

“The Financial Literacy course at Generator was a game changer. As a recent theatre school graduate, and an actor with multiple streams of income, I had no idea where to begin. The team at Generator was so helpful and patient, all of my beginner-level questions were welcomed with open arms, and they did a fabulous job of providing tools which leave me feeling confident in my ability to budget and file my own taxes moving forward. Most importantly, I'm leaving the program feeling in control of my relationship with money.

I'm so grateful for the Jordan Merchano Bursary, which allowed me to take this class without any financial strain. I recommend this program to anyone and everyone who is feeling intimidated by their finances, and is ready to take control of their life again.” —Alyssa Pothier, Bursary recipient, Winter 2021

Financial Literacy for Independent Artists

SPONSORED BY THE JORDAN MECHANO BURSARY FUND