Supporting Artists and Creative Practitioners to Commercialise their Work

Durham Creatives Business Durham received European funding between 2012 and 2015 to commission Durham Creatives. Business development programme designed specifically for the creative sector The aim of the programme was to assist artists and potential creative industry entrepreneurs living in County Durham to commercialise their creativity by; Developing entrepreneurial capacities Exploiting opportunities Launching new business Growing existing ones

Who we work with Architects Visual artists Craftspeople Designers Film makers Musicians Performing artists Dancers Historians working in the heritage sector Curators Writers People working in the games industry People supporting arts and creativity-based learning

Why the creative sector? It was felt that sector helps to create the conditions for growth through making the Durham a distinctive, exciting and attractive place to live and work. It is believed that by being bold and creative in the development of the county’s natural and arts and heritage assets, the area will secure a sustainable future, helping to attract inward investment and more and higher value tourists.

Why the sector ? Additionally, the county was particularly interested in commissioning this work as they believe that, if the county is to maintain and develop its cultural and creative offerings and individual creative practitioners are to be able to exploit the opportunities available to them to sustain their practise, then artists and arts organisations need to become more commercially resilient as public funding for the arts diminishes.

The funding enabled the county to building on a pilot programme That identifies the following barriers to growth in the sector Limited awareness of business practice Disdain for commercial success - seen as ‘selling out’ artistic integrity Creative focus rather than market focus Limited understanding of the benefits to potential consumers of their work and of market opportunities Isolation - ploughing lonely artistic furrows Disconnect from mainstream business and skills support agencies and resources Business support community largely not incentivised to work with sector Business advisers not necessarily familiar with market opportunities

That’s not to say the artists and creative practitioners do not have aspirations for growth. However, they express these aspirations in terms of goals such as developing studio spaces, exhibiting internationally or having a social impact. Rarely do they express aspirations for growth in explicit financial language or in terms of job creation.

Taking all this into account we… Designed our start-up programme specifically for the creative sector Created a brand that resonated with the sector Exploited social media and creative networks to raise awareness of the programme and engage artists and other creative practitioners Ensured that all our advisors had awareness and understanding of market opportunities within the creative sector and of the benefits that derive from artists’ work

Ensured that our advisors had experience of working in the sector and were seen as credible in the eyes of the creative community Designed enterprise activities in such a way as to animate and enthuse Ensured that learning was undertaken within the context of real creative opportunities Brokered artists’ relationships with creative and commercial commissioners

We offered a programme of: Events and workshops One-to-one professional development sessions One-to-one business coaching Mentoring

We also … Sought to signpost artists to the wider business support community Helped artists identify studio/exhibition spaces Organised ‘pop-up’ selling opportunities Supported artists/creative practitioners to access loan funding Built understanding and capacity amongst the broader business support community to ensure that they were better able to support artists beyond the lifetime of the programme

Lindsay Madden: visual artist

Lindsay Madden: visual artist

Kelvin Moor: Performance Artist

Hannah Peters: Jeweller

Over the lifetime of the EU funded programme we… Built the entrepreneurial capacities of over 600 artists and creative practitioners Supported the creation of 100 new businesses Created over 100 new jobs Supported 50 new business to grow

Since the funding Durham Creatives has become established brand and as an initiative well placed to support the sector. Attracted funds to: Support creative practitioners build their digital know how Broker relationships between creatives practitioners living and working rural areas with potential commissioners Implement a regional professional programme which will conclude with a major art exhibition at Newcastle City Library Support the development of the dale centre at Stanhope as a creative and cultural centre in Weardale Research the business development needs of creative practitioners living in east Durham.

Going forward The project has just received additional support from Business Durham which will enable us to offer additional support to the sector across the county until 2019