Directory: SUPPORT SERVICES & ARTISTS' GROUPS

(Latest news of opportunities for local creatives can be found on the What's New page.)

 
     _{BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT: self-employed & partnerships}

::  M.A. in Design Enterprise - Staffordshire University's new fee-paying postgraduate course, a one-year Masters degree... "for those who want to use their design skills to start their own creative business." See also the University's Postgraduate Funding Guide (100kb PDF file, direct link).

::  WIRE Staffordshire (Women in Rural Enterprise).

::  The Crafts Council - has a national 'Setting up Scheme' which provides financial, business and professional development support for craft makers who are about to set up in business, or who are within two years of setting up in business.

::  NESTA: Investment & Innovation - grants to support innovation, up to £50k. Available to businesses of less than 5 people.

::  The Design Trust - offers a free 40-page guide to starting a design-based business (315kb PDF file, direct link).

::  PRIME - the national charity which helps people aged over 50 to set up in business. They have loans of up to £5000 available.

::  Shout 99 - the UK's biggest network for freelancers.

 The Inland Revenue in Stoke-on-Trent offers free one-to-one visits & workshops on starting a new business, including people starting out in self-employment.

     _{BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT: small & medium companies}

::  Business Enterprise Support: Staffordshire - offers a four-month business training scheme, which is subsidised.

::  Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce - based at Festival Park, Stoke-on-Trent.

::  inStaffs - the Staffordshire inward-investment agency. Useful for larger creative businesses seeking to relocate here from outside the area.

::   'Finest' - professional services networking club for North Staffordshire - contact via the North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce.

::  Arts & Business - West Midlands - dedicated to bringing the worlds of business & the arts together.

::  Audiences Central - helps arts-based businesses in the West Midlands to attract new audiences.

::  Screen West Midlands - the regional TV, film & video production development agency. May be able to offer subsidised training to new freelancers and new production companies.

::  Ceramic Indsutry Forum: Innovation in Design - grants of up to £10k are available to ceramics companies.

::  Passport West Midlands - is the West Midlands arm of the Government's Trade Partners UK, and provides tailored... "support to inexperienced exporters, to help small companies develop their export business". Exporting design-based & creative-content items can be a big profit source - if you get it right. Trade Partners UK has a special interest in the Creative Industries through its three 'Export Group' programmes - these are in Design (consumer product-design, architecture and crafts), Creative Content (music industry & publishing, interactive media & games, film/TV & radio), and Performing Arts (opera, dance, theatre, and lighting). Trade Partners UK also hosts www.creativexport.co.uk.

::  The Late Payment Act - enables small businesses to charge interest on late payments due to them.

::   Many creative start-ups only need small loans to buy equipment, the kind of loans that High St. banks often prefer to deal with as an expensive overdraft rather than a simple loan. Zopa is a UK bank-free peer-to-peer lending network that can easily deal with lending small amounts.

     _{BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT: graduates & youth}

::  Staffordshire Graduate Link - helps link employers with recent graduates. Based in Stoke-on-Trent.

::  The Prince's Trust - supporting people aged 18-30 starting in business. The Trust has an office in Stoke-on-Trent.

::  HE Full Circle -  launched in mid 2003, this is a five-year project to encourage recent graduates to start up businesses in Staffordshire. It offers bursaries, signposting to mentors, and aims to launch 10 successful small business per year. Graduates seeking to remain in the wider West Midlands for employment should visit Graduate Advantage.

::  Carlton TV - provides free TV adverts for new businesses run by those under the age of 30. It shows 8 x 30-second adverts per month, and will even pay for the making of the advert.

::  Young Enterprise - a charity of 12 regional organisations, bringing volunteers from business to work with teachers and pupils.

::  Business Dynamics - the business-education and enterprise charity for young people aged 14 to 19. Volunteers from companies introduce students to the opportunities and challenges of business.

::   Burslem Arts is a new website that profiles and sells "art and unique items all made in a 20 mile radius of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent".

     _{BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT: Research & development}

::  Staffordshire BIC (Business Innovation Centre) - based at Burslem School of Art. Free net-connected workstations and desk-space for new start-ups. Also runs half-day product-development workshops. Runs 'PRISTINE'; a grant & advice scheme to help develop new innovative products, and can offer local grants for reseaching product development.

::  R & D Tax Credits - small and medium-sized businesses spending over £10,000 on Research & Development can get tax credits of up to 150%.

::  Ceramic Industry Forum: 'Design to Sell' -  a scheme which helps smaller ceramic companies to audit their existing design & marketing, identify areas for action, and then access up to £7500 worth of help to enable change.

::  Mercia Spinner - the organisation which helps university staff in the West Midlands to commercialise their new ideas and research.

     _{SPECIALIST BUSINESS SERVICES: intellectual-property}

::  Swindell & Pearson - large legal firm, specialising in providing expert Intellectual Property advice on all aspects of design, copyright and trademarks. Office at Federation House, Stoke town.

::  Grindleys Corporate Legal Services - long-established legal firm based in Stoke. Ivan Firmstone is their partner who specialises in Intellectual Property law.

::  The Patent Office - Guidance for Designs & Designers on the new Design Registration that effectively replaces 'Copyright'.

     _{SPECIALIST BUSINESS SERVICES: accepting e-payments}

::  UK Online's Electronic Payments Guide.

::  PayPal.

     _{SPECIALIST BUSINESS SERVICES: venture capital & loans}

::  Advantage Creative Fund - the Fund has £5-million to make commercial investments in creative-industries companies based in the West Midlands.

::  Advantage Enterprise & Innovation Fund - a £20m venture capital fund established in 2005 to provide capital for expanding businesses.

::  North Staffordshire Risk Capital Fund - launched in late 2003, the Fund aims to encourage private investment in qualifying businesses which operate in disadvantaged communities and which would otherwise find it difficult to raise loans. Up to £75,000 is available to suitable local companies. NSRCF is based on Festival Park, and is an Accredited Community Development Finance Institution.

::  The Pembridge 100 Fund aims to invest £1m in UK creative businesses in 2006.

::  The Genesis Foundation - provides start-up loans to Prince's Trust people aged 18 to 30, to enable them to become self-employed in the creative arts. The Princes Trust have an office at Shelton Enterprise Centre in Stoke-on-Trent, and are able to make low-interest business loans up to a maximum of £5,000.

::  Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme - provides loans to small businesses which can't obtain loans from traditional lenders. From April 2003 the Scheme was extended to include business which are based on... "cultural activities".

::  Coalfields Enterprise Fund - makes commercial venture capital loans from £40,000 to £500,000, in ex-coalmining areas, of which Stoke-on-Trent is one. Open to applicants from May 2004.

::  UK Steel Enterprise - offers unsecured loans of up to £35,000 to suitable small businesses in ex steel-making areas, of which Stoke-on-Trent is one. Also available in parts of Newcastle-under-Lyme.

     _{COUNCIL ARTS INITIATIVES:}

::  Stoke City Council - Community Arts. The Council has a Community Arts Officer (Paul Bailey) and graduate assistants within the Education Department. Small grants are available from their Community Arts Development Programme (CADP), for suitable community/educational arts & crafts projects - and they can also suggest local artists for groups to employ on projects. There is now a Council Arts Strategy for Children.

::  Staffordshire County Council's Staffordshire Arts & Museums Service has several the regional arts development officers. The Service facilitates a variety of projects. The County Council's Education Department also hosts a Performing Arts Unit which works with partners in Stoke-on-Trent & Newcastle-under-Lyme.

::  Staffordshire Moorlands Council's arts development pages. They are currently running the 'Make It Contemporary' scheme.

::  Newcastle-under-Lyme Town Council have an Arts page and a Cultural Strategy document for the town. Delyth Entincott is the Arts Officer.

::  East Staffordshire Council has a Community Arts Officer, Paul Challcombe.

Nearby Crewe Town Council have a new Cultural Development Manager, Nicky Griffiths. Congleton Town Council has a local Arts Officer. A list of local artists is available online from neighbouring Cheshire County Council, and they produce a yearly newsletter. In mid-Staffordshire, Stafford Borough Council has recently launched its cultural-industries Culturegen project for the town. Macclesfield has Macclesfield Imagination.

     _{STRATEGIC & REGION-WIDE:}

::   Burslem Arts is a new website that profiles and sells "art and unique items all made in a 20 mile radius of Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent".

::  West Midlands Talent Bank & IdeasFactory West Midlands are worth a look, for wider West Midlands opportunities.

::  Arts Council: West Midlands.

     _{ARTIST-LED NETWORKS & GROUPS:}

::   North Staffordshire Arts & Architecture.  The largest and most forward-looking artist-led network in the area. Their glossy twice-yearly events flyers can be found in some libraries, galleries & bookshops. They hold about six well-attended talks/events per year, bringing big-name speakers to North Staffordshire. They're looking for sponsors to help promote & market the group.

::  Staffordshire Art & Crafts Network. Organises the county's annual Open Studios event.

::  North Staffordshire Guild of Craftsmen.  Established for 25 years, the Guild holds regular high-quality fairs offering British crafts.

Near neighbours:

::  CIN - by & for professional creatives in neighbouring Buxton, parts of the Peak, and thoughout Derbyshire. An excellent and polished website.

::   Nearby Stafford town has s-base. sbase is an artists-led campaign for an arts-centre.

::  Crewe Photographic Society.

::  Cheshire Open Studios.

::  Congleton Arts Society.

::  The Peak District Products Collective - a craft makers' group, in the nearby Peak District National Park.

::  Ridware Arts Group - based in South Staffordshire. Runs a variety of short-courses.

::  Arts in the Peak. This artist-led group covers the Peak District National Park and related fringe areas such as the Staffordshire Moorlands. They have about 80 members and hope to employ a full-time organiser by Summer 2005.

::  artists@work - a dynamic group of fine artists in neighbouring south Cheshire who organise the annual Open Studios event for the county.

::  RedEye - art and documentary photography network for the North West.

     _{SELLING ART:}

See: Creative Stoke's Galleries listing.

::  Staffordshire Open Studios.