Businesses in the creative sector are being invited to join the Creative Scale Up programme, supporting businesses to grow their operations.
The programme is a pilot scheme, funded by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), and managed by GC Business Growth Hub. The scheme aims to support creative businesses to scale up by tackling gaps in investment.
The scheme will offer a module-based curriculum to creative businesses with a minimum of eight staff or freelancers. Workshops will focus on eight core subjects to prepare organisations for investment, including organisational structure and leadership, pitching and developing growth strategies and sales and marketing skills.
The creative sector includes:
- Film, TV, Radio, Gaming, AR, VR Businesses
- Design, Fashion, Jewellery Businesses
- Marketing, PR, Architecture, Publishing Businesses
- Museums, Galleries, Performing Arts Organisations
Creative Industries Minister Nigel Adams said:
Our creative industries are a world-renowned success story contributing over £100 billion to our economy. We want to ensure the sector continues to thrive, and this new programme will help businesses in Greater Manchester scale up.
“Not only will this provide a boost to the local economy it will also create jobs and unlock new opportunities for the local community.”
Sam Whitear, Creative Industries project manager at GC Business Growth Hub, said:
This is a remarkable opportunity for the creative industries in Greater Manchester to build on what already is a thriving industry.
“Greater Manchester has recently been named as the second most creative city in Europe, with an estimated gross value added (GVA) revenue impact of £1.4bn to the city from culture and creative industries.
“We are delighted to be launching this targeted programme to support and further grow creative companies. Applications are now open, and I encourage all qualifying creative businesses that wish to benefit from this dedicated support, to apply for the programme.”