Popstart was founded in December 2003 by three interdisciplinary art companies, bluemouth inc originally from Toronto, Vancouver’s Radix Theatre and Les Productions Nathalie Derome from Montreal, who met at Toronto’s Free Fall Festival in late 2002. Inspired by each other’s work and stimulated by the opportunity to meet other artists classified as “interdisciplinary,” they concluded that a pan-Canadian network for interdisciplinary artists was needed, in order to share ideas, approaches and information regarding their work.
The three companies managed and coordinated the site until the summer of 2005, when the Regroupement des arts interdisciplinaires du Québec (RAIQ) became the “parent” organization, taking Popstart under its wing in order to keep the website going. To further insure its long-term existence, develop its mandate and attain its goals, in 2006, Popstart assembled a national advisory committee comprised of four groups: in addition to the RAIQ from Quebec, Year Zero One from Toronto, Miscellaneous Productions from Vanvouver, and the Collision collective in Victoria all joined the Popstart team.
In 2007, the RAIQ and Popstart further united forces, deciding to build joint websites – two online resources that share information across sites, working simultaneously, and compatibly, to serve the inter-arts communities across Quebec and Canada respectively.
