The first edition of our North East Create Growth Programme has officially begun. This intensive, six-month support scheme kicked off with a launch event held at Gateshead’s Baltic Centre For Contemporary Art welcoming each of the 16 creative businesses taking part in 2023’s inaugural cohort.
The North East Create Growth Programme (CGP) is funded by the Department for Culture Media and Sport (DCMS) and delivered by Creative UK in collaboration with lead partners the North of Tyne Combined Authority, and aims to support creative businesses in planning for growth and exploring and securing commercial investment opportunities.
Open exclusively to North East businesses, the programme is designed to change the way founders think about growth. Inviting them to focus their attention on long-term strategy and building a robust and sustainable plan for scale, it will help participants prepare for investment and long-term success.
Over the next six months, Creative UK will pair creatives with industry mentors who will be on hand to offer them one-on-one advice with their own specific creative journey in mind. It will also bring them face-to-face with investors via exclusive roundtable events, allowing entrepreneurs to connect on their own terms in relaxed and informal environments and to forge relationships and potential new creative partnerships.
Charlotte Bond, Head of Programmes at Creative UK, explains:
“We’re so glad that so many exciting creative businesses can join us on this journey for our very first North East cohort. In a nutshell, the programme hopes to instil a ‘reflect and review’ attitude in its cohort. This sounds like a relatively simple and easy thing to do but in practice, it’s actually quite hard to apply and focusing on personal growth can often be the first thing to fall by the wayside.
“Preparing for investment really requires you to take a hard look at your business, reflect on what you’ve done, where you want to go and why – that’s the gap that the programme aims to fill. It’s all about giving founders a structure and a sounding board to sense-check their plans and their proposition with experienced people that know the industry and know investment.”
Following on from their first group session held on Monday, 17 July, founders will now embark on their own bespoke investment journey over the next six months. It’s one that will allow them to benefit from group peer sessions and solidify their own unique growth plan.
Meet the cohort :
Maria Caruana Galizia // Candle & Bell Ltd
Formed in 2013, Candle & Bell specialises in producing commercial and online content for cultural institutions and festivals, alongside developing a slate of original films.
Tim Goodill // Cassini Films
Cassini Films was started in 2021 and solidified its offering by producing a feature that brought £2 million of Arts Council money into the North East. This award-winning company also provides VFX and post-production services and via its own high-end facilities.
Lee Daymond and Barry Braley // Foresight eLearning and Creative
Foresight specialises in developing creative content, eLearning, video production and animation services. Their aim is to create content that transforms the future of their clients’ businesses.
Miles Hudson // FunPostcardsFrom Ltd
FunPostcardsFrom Ltd is a business that focuses on producing educational stories aimed at children aged between 8-12 years old. These easy-to-digest and informative tales come in a postcard format.
Victoria Smith, Gemma Shamah, Richard Maides, Carl Bathgate // Ghostwriter Consultancy & Events Ltd
Ghostwriter Consultancy & Events Ltd was formed in 2019 and has since become an expert at delivering a wide range of live events for their clients. Their output touches all areas of the sector, from music, festivals and corporate activations.
Amanda Drago, Kit Haigh // Green Croft Arts Ltd
Green Croft Arts Ltd is a not-for-profit organisation that offers arts, creative and wellbeing activities to visitors and rural communities in West Northumberland. Each of these is inspired by the landscape and history of their location, the heritage site of Hadrian’s Wall.
Bethan Harding MBE, Ben Harding // Harding Education – Winning With Numbers
Harding Education provides clients with leadership coaching and a learning platform called Winning With Numbers which specialises in the maths curriculum. The company recently received the FSB Start-Up Business of the Year Award for the North East.
Dan Baird // I N F I N I T Y 27
INFINITY27 is an open game studio and Unreal-authorised training centre that serves as the next-generation talent pipeline for the games and immersive industry. It styles itself as a “proving ground” for producing highly competent, industry-ready talent.
Nick Williams // Living Archive Limited
Living Archive Limited was founded in 2020 by sound designer, creative technologist and community arts specialist Nick Williams. It provides cultural organisations with a cloud-based platform that helps organise their audio, video, image and text assets to help promote their work.
Judith McMinn // Rezon Ltd
Judith started Rezon Ltd in 2021. This start-up has designed and developed a sports headband that protects the brain from injury during sport and reduce the risk of concussion and sub-concussive brain injury.
Siddesh Iyar, Kyran Parker // Sportfin Ltd
Building on a strong passion for using sport as a tool to positively develop individuals and communities, SportFin was set up by Siddesh Iyar and Kyran Parker to help community sports organisations accurately quantify the social impact they have and to assist with fund raising.
Di Gates // Stick Theory Ltd
Stick Theory was founded by Di Gates. It is a collaborative agency that helps national and international clients to forge better connections and grow responsible brands. Her new venture, The Connection Story, uses research to empower companies to optimise human workplace connections and retain happy, high-performing teams.
Nicole Vivien Watson // Surface Area Dance Theatre
Surface Area Dance Theatre was established in 2007 by Nicole Vivien Watson and has since become part of Art Council England’s 2023-26 National Portfolio. Since its creation, it has achieved significant developments in the presentation of live and digital performances, interdisciplinary collaborations, and international cultural exchange.
Jeff Breen // Fundify
Fundify is a tech start-up created by former fundraiser Jeff Breen. The company supports creative businesses and individuals and helps them to access grant funding information in the shortest timeframe possible.
Tony McNally // ToneAlly
‘ToneAlly’ is the world’s first percussion teaching tool which focuses on the vertical movement of the drum stick. ‘ToneAlly’ trains your drum stroke to follow the correct trajectory, something that would normally take many years of practice to develop.
Paul Sutherland, Jack Wilson, Daniel Gunn // SkillsPlay
SkillsPlay offer support for anyone thinking of using Serious Learning Games and offer bespoke design services, training and partner accreditation, research collaborations and much more
Want to be a part of the programme? Fancy being in the next cohort? Head to our North East webpage to find out more information or get in touch with Programme Coordinator Katie Mitchell