Canada’s Creator Economy runs along a language fault line. In Quebec, Francophone creators operate in a largely separate ecosystem from their Anglophone counterparts, with different platforms, different sponsors, and different professional networks. Jacques Eastwood, the founder of ContenFest, is trying to close that divide one annual conference at a time.

Founded in 2024, ContenFest will hold its third edition on September 30 at the Société des arts technologiques in Montreal, positioning itself as the first Creator Economy event in Canada to bring both language communities into the same room. The format Jacques has built around that premise includes panels led by creators rather than executives, programming organized around specific niches and expertise, and a floor built for brand-creator matchmaking rather than fan interactions.

“The creators come to meet the brand executives. The brand executives come to meet the creators,” he says. “And the people in the crowd are the professionals, the dentist, the accountant, the teacher, people who want to learn how they can become content creators themselves. It’s a conference with a festival aesthetic.”

From Hip Hop Promoter to Creator Economy Builder

Jacques’s path to founding ContenFest runs through Montreal’s music scene, the world’s largest comedy festival, and a timely phone call.

He spent years as a music promoter, organizing after-parties for touring artists and running live shows across Montreal. That work led to a four-year run at “Just for Laughs,” where he served as Executive Producer and Head of International Business Development, helping expand the festival to Morocco, Tunisia, and South Africa.

The pivot to the Creator Economy began with a call from Ryan Konarsky, who was organizing a TikTok event in Montreal and needed help identifying local creators. Platform data, Jacques recalls Ryan explaining, could not surface creators by city due to privacy constraints. “I said, ‘I know everybody, don’t worry, I got you,’” Jacques recalls. He assembled the local creator community through direct outreach, and the event came together. That experience pointed toward something larger.

After attending Web Summit in Lisbon, Jacques launched the first edition of ContenFest in 2024. Both early editions sold out. This year’s event features a larger creator lineup and represents, in Jacques’s framing, the proof point for an international expansion he has been building toward.

The Algorithm as the Real Gatekeeper

Jacques pushes back on one of the Creator Economy’s most repeated arguments: social media has democratized influence by removing gatekeepers.

“There is gatekeeping,” he says. “The gatekeeping is the algorithm itself.” A creator with 5,000 followers may reach only 500 people per post, he argues, leaving two options: produce higher volumes of content or pay to boost distribution. The underlying logic of access has not fundamentally changed, but the gatekeeper has.

That reading informs his broader thesis on the industry’s direction. “A lot of people say it’s the new TV, but it’s a reality; it’s our TV,” Jacques says. Gen Z consumes news on social media, builds relationships with streamers rather than networks, and spends hours in live-broadcast environments that bear little structural resemblance to traditional television.

Brand behavior is following attention. “When you look at all the money brands used to spend on TV, traditional media, they all go to the creators right now,” he says. The next step, he argues, is brands building internal media operations rather than simply buying creator placements. “Each brand, each company has to build a media department right now,” Jacques says. “We’re still at the genesis, but not for long.”

Putting Creators at the Microphone

ContenFest’s core format decision is also its most direct critique of how most Creator Economy events are structured. “When you go to creator events, they bring executives,” Jacques says. “But they don’t give the mic to the creators. And actually, who’s the one we want to hear?”

The 2026 lineup reflects that philosophy. MD Motivator (Zachery Dereniowski), a motivational creator whose content centers on personal development and resilience, is a major speaker. Énola Bédard, a Quebec-born dancer based in Los Angeles who recently performed with Shakira at the 2026 FIFA World Cup Final halftime show, and Raphael Laferrara, a magician with around 4.7 million YouTube subscribers, are also on the program. Panels are organized around each creator’s specific expertise rather than broad industry themes.

Mental health is one of the event’s explicit tracks. Jacques describes the pressure creators face from algorithm-driven output demands as a genuine psychological burden, noting that platforms push creators toward daily volume requirements that compound over time. “The pressure of creating content, dealing with bad criticism, the pressure from the algorithm,” he says. “We’re talking about the effect that has in the head of somebody who cannot deliver.”

His read on ContenFest’s positioning draws on the wider event situation. 

LIONS, the company behind Cannes Lions, recently announced that VidCon will join its portfolio. Jacques described the move as combining the latter’s fan-and-exposition model with the former’s brand-executive programming depth. The combined event is heading to Nashville. He is honest about where ContenFest stands relative to players of that scale. “We’re not at the stage of VidCon in Canada yet, but we’re building toward it,” he says.

Expansion to Mexico and Morocco in 2027

The third edition also serves as the operational proof point for Jacques’s expansion plan.

He has already assembled a team in Mexico City with experience producing major creator events in the market. Mexico, in his assessment, is the largest creator market among Spanish-speaking countries, with significant activity across food, fashion, beauty, athletics, and education verticals. “The creator space in Mexico is so huge,” he says.

A parallel edition in Morocco is planned for 2027. Jacques draws on relationships built during his “Just for Laughs” years there, where the festival had expanded internationally. Montreal will continue as the home base, with a fourth edition planned for May 2027 during the Formula 1 Grand Prix weekend.

Why ContenFest Partnered With World Children’s Day

This year’s edition carries a formal partnership with World Children’s Day, with a share of event proceeds directed toward the initiative. For Jacques, the alignment is personal.

He describes growing up in difficult circumstances, including gang involvement and an absent father. “I think my childhood is the cause of who I am today,” he says. The partnership developed after the Canadian Director of World Children’s Day reached out to align the initiative with ContenFest’s platform. “The children are missing real examples, access to real examples and aspiration,” Jacques says. “For me, it was a no-brainer.”

From Local Hub to Global Creator Network

Jacques frames ContenFest’s trajectory around a single ambition. “There are more than 200 million creators in the world,” he says. “I want ContenFest to become worldwide. That’s my vision.”

The near-term work involves growing the Montreal edition, proving the Mexico and Morocco concepts, and demonstrating that a bilingual creator conference can scale while preserving what makes it distinct.

“You can come to ContenFest, and you meet that photographer, that videographer, that editor who will match with you,” he says. “My biggest blessing is that I have an international team. I work with people I never met before in my life. But we communicate on social media, we work together, and we are a team.”

ContenFest Montréal is taking place on September 30 at the SAT. Tickets are available here.

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