Calling all Creatives

Are you a Creative Business?  Do you want to develop new income streams? Do you have the capacity to take on new projects? If so you’ll want to be at this free event in Sligo on Thursday 7^th June.

Calling all Creatives is a workshop being run by The Creative State North West who recently announced a new fund of over €100,000, that is targeted at creative industries in the North West; specifically Mayo, Leitrim, Donegal, Roscommon and Sligo.

Specifically targeted at SME’s and micro businesses in the creative sector, this new initiative is a significant opportunity for small business owners to identify and generate new sources of revenue, collaborate with other businesses to obtain a new perspective on their skills and develop new partnerships to avail of further income opportunities into the future. 

The event in Sligo will not only tell you more about the fund, and the accompanying business support scheme – and crucially how to access them both- but will also help you to hone your businesses “elevator pitch” through a speed pitching workshop with Sally Brazier.  You will also have the opportunity to hear from similar successful projects in the UK during the proof panel “The Power of Creative Partnerships” which will include researchers and participants from NESTA’s Creative Credits programme, a hugely successful project in the UK.  Ian Henry from Sizzle Media, one of the Creative participants in the programme, will speak about the huge impact the programme had on their recent growth.

The fund is part of a new initiative from the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry called The European Creative Industries Alliance (ECIA).  The North West fund is called 4CNW and is the only Irish programme to feed into this new Alliance, giving Creative Industries in the North West a unique opportunity to influence future EC policy in this area. Indeed the North West is a recognised hub of creative talent, with the percentage of people employed in the Creative Industries here being above the European average.

The key aim of the Creative State initiative is to enable new partnerships between creative businesses and four key industry sectors; tourism, technology, life sciences and agri-food; all identified as significant industries for the North West region. The voucher scheme will use a fund of €100,000 to incentivise collaborations with these diverse sectors., and a separate event in July will deliver detailed information for these industries, in advance of the call for applications.

Calling all Creatives is a free event, which takes place in Sligo at The Model on The Mall, from 10am – 1pm on Thursday 7^th June. On the day The Creative State will answer detailed questions about the fund, giving attendees the best possible advantage in making a future application to the fund. To secure your place visit http://callingallcreatives.eventbrite.ie or just turn up on the day. Those who don’t pre-register online are asked to arrive at least 15mins before the event begins to ensure admittance.  Visit www.lookwest.ie/4cnw for more details on the fund.

 

For further information contact dmelvin@sligococo.ie

 

Further information:

The Creative State North West

A strong coalition of key players from the fields of local government, regional development, business and enterprise The Creative State North West has its origins in the County Development Board and is led by Sligo County Council, working together with local authority partners from Donegal, Leitrim, Mayo and Roscommon and the Western Development Commission. Together they aim to increase the competitiveness of the North West region by strengthening its capacity for innovation through the linking of Creative Industries with Business, Creative Industries with each other, and Creative Industries with appropriate public bodies.

In order to do this The Creative State is rolling out a new business support programme called 4CNW, which will provide funding to incentivise collaborations between creative industries and businesses in the tourism, agri-food, life sciences and technology sectors.

This is the only Irish project that forms part of the European Creative Industries Alliance (ECIA), a new initiative of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Enterprise and Industry. The ECIA is testing better practices in innovation support through projects like 4CNW in order to help position Europe as a competitive global leader for creativity and innovation by 2020.

In addition to the innovation fund The Creative State North West will also build an interactive creative directory and mobile app to help Creatives find each other, and to help them to be found by the broader business environment.

 

 

Published on the 23/05/2012