01:00 AM EST on Tuesday, December 13, 2005

BY DAVID McPHERSON
Journal Staff Writer

Curt Worden has a hunch about Rhode Island's place in the creative economy in which his company operates.

"In my gut, I can feel this wave of interest, and I just think it's going to get better and better," the president and executive producer of Tango Pix said yesterday.

If he is right, that could mean a new class of jobs for Rhode Islanders.

Tango Pix is a new film and video production company in Providence that is one of the first recipients of a new loan program designed to create jobs in Rhode Island.

Starting with 4 people in July, Tango Pix is now up to 12 workers and Worden said he envisions adding 6 more next year as the company bids for work from clients around the country.

The rapid growth has been fueled in part by a $600,000 line of credit from Sovereign Bank under its Job Foundation Loan Program for Rhode Island. Launched in June, the loan program provides special terms and below-market rates to small businesses that commit to creating new jobs.

Citizens Bank offers a competing jobs-creation loan program.

The Sovereign program requires businesses to create three new jobs for the first $250,000 borrowed and then one more job for each additional $50,000. The bank has set aside $75 million for the loans to businesses with annual revenues of up to $10 million.

"It helps us put capital into the economy," said Frank Casale Jr., a Sovereign senior vice president for Rhode Island business banking.

Sovereign announced three of the first recipients yesterday: Tango Pix, Gamer Graffix of Cranston and Helen Bakery of North Providence.

Gamer Graffix produces skins that cover video gaming consoles and other electronic devices. The company will use the financing to buy equipment to manufacture its products in Rhode Island rather than in China as it does now. In the process, it expects to hire 60 to 80 workers next year.

Helen Bakery is a 40-year-old business purchased recently by Tharwat Eltahan. The bakery makes pita bread and biscuits and operates a retail store that sells Mediterranean groceries. It plans on hiring up to 15 new workers.

Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline turned out for a brief event announcing the Tango Pix loan, praising the company's job creation efforts and a new state tax credit to filmmakers that shoot movies in Rhode Island.

Tango Pix grew out of Context Media, a privately held Providence technology company acquired in July by Oracle Corp. Worden, one of Context Media's cofounders, said Oracle was interested in the company's technology and not its small media division.

That unit formed the basis for Tango Pix, and for its first few months it operated out of the former Context Media offices. In October, it relocated to The Foundry complex on Promenade Street in Providence.

The company has used its Sovereign line of credit to acquire high-end video editing and production equipment capable of handling multiple formats, including high definition video.

The new equipment will allow Tango Pix to attract clients -- including some from Rhode Island -- that would have otherwise looked to video production companies in New York or Boston, Worden said.

It also requires additional hiring. "Some of this equipment is so specialized you have to have the right people," said Worden, a former TV news cameraman for Channels 6 and 12 locally and ABC News in New York.

The company already does work for Hasbro, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island and Lifespan hospitals and says it can entice more Rhode Island companies to send business its way once they learn of its capabilities.

"It's better to keep business here in the state," Worden said.

Contact David McPherson at dmcpherson@projo.com.