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 Directory: BUSINESS SUPPORT & CREATIVES' 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."
:: Burslem Live/Work - live/work units and retail in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent.
:: BizFizz - has a local representative and coaches start-up businesses in Stoke-on-Trent.
Funded by the Coalfields Trust.
:: WIRE Staffordshire (Women in Rural Enterprise).
:: The Crafts Council
- has various schemes that provide financial, business and professional development support for craft makers.
:: 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.
:: Supply2Gov is a online search portal for all lower-value contracts offered by local and national government. Previously
requiring a subscription, use of the portal is now free after a simple sign-up. The fourth edition of the free booklet
Tendering for Public Contracts : A Guide for Small Businesses (PDF link)
will be useful reading for users.
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
:: The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce has produced an excellent free A Guide To Sources Of Small Business Finance In The West Midlands (Sept 2009).
This detailed and concise 28-page guide has everything you need to know about current regional and specialist sources of funding for your small business.
:: 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. See also this guide to managed workspaces and business parks in the area.
:: Business Enterprise Support: Staffordshire
- offers a four-month business training scheme, which is subsidised. They also offer specialist women-only support.
:: Business Brokers - run a trading fair for North Staffordshire companies,
and can provide individual business support.
:: Ceramic Industry Forum: Innovation in Design -
grants of up to £10k are available to ceramics companies.
:: 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 and better understand existing audiences.
:: Screen West Midlands - the regional TV, film & video production
development agency. All regional skills and training funding for film & TV is directed via Skillset.
:: UK Trade & Investment - offering advice and contacts for exporters
in the creative industries.
:: 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: business networking events
:: Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce - based at Festival Park, Stoke-on-Trent.
:: Finest - the business networking club for young professionals in North Staffordshire.
:: Business Network International: North Staffordshire.
:: Business Voice WM
BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT: students, graduates, and youth
:: SPEED is a Staffordshire University scheme... "offering financial support along with
creative business village accommodation, business start-up training and mentoring" to current students. The companion Enterprise Fellowship Scheme
is open to graduates and alumni.
:: The Prince's Trust -
supporting people aged 18-30 starting in business. The Trust has an office
in Stoke-on-Trent.
:: Staffordshire University Creative Village - managed workspace for graduates, located on the Stoke-on-Trent
campus and conveniently near the train station.
:: Graduate Advantage - provides internships for unemployed graduates.
:: ITV Central - 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.
BUSINESS START-UP SUPPORT: Research & 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 - based in Stoke-on-Trent.
SPECIALIST BUSINESS SERVICES: business leads and tenders
:: The North Staffordshire Chamber of Commerce has an online business tenders website.
:: The Sentinel newspaper: business section.
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 apparently effectively replaces 'copyright' in the EU.
SPECIALIST BUSINESS SERVICES: e-payments and online shops
:: PayPal.
:: Etsy for crafts makers - has an excellent reputation, and because it sells only hand-made items it has consistently strong visitor numbers.
Folksy is also worth investigating.
:: Lulu - online shops for selling your print-on-demand books. They also
offer an affordable route to get your POD books onto Amazon UK.
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 providing capital for expanding businesses.
:: North Staffordshire Risk Capital Fund
- 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.
:: 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
North Staffordshire is one.
:: 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.
:: The Prince's Trust
can provide help to 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.
:: The Michelin Development Fund has £1-million of unsecured loans (from £5,000 each) on offer to small businesses in North Staffordshire. They don't seem to
have a website, but can be contacted on freephone: 0800 056 2007.
LOCAL COUNCIL ARTS INITIATIVES:
:: Stoke City Council - Community Arts
and small grants funding.
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.
There is a Cultural Strategy document, 2003-08 online (PDF link).
:: Newcastle-under-Lyme Town Council have an Arts page
and a Cultural Strategy document for the town. They offer £1,200 cultural grants to local organisations, via the Cultural Grants Programme.
:: East Staffordshire Council has a Community Arts Officer, Paul Challcombe.
Nearby Cheshire East Council
has an Arts Officer. A list of local artists is available online from neighbouring Cheshire County Council,
and they produce a yearly newsletter. Macclesfield has the online cretive industries forum Macclesfield Imagination.
STRATEGIC & REGION-WIDE:
:: Staffordshire County Council's
Arts & Museums Service, based at Shugborough Hall. This undertakes a variety
of activities, and offers some grants for
individual artists and groups who are based in Staffordshire
(but not in Stoke-on-Trent). In 2001 the Service published a report on
Skills Training for Student & Graduate Community Artists.
:: West Midlands Talent Bank
& 4 Talent (formerly Channel 4's Ideas Factory)
are worth a look, for wider West Midlands opportunities.
:: Arts Council: West Midlands.
CREATIVE NETWORKS & GROUPS:
:: There are several informal social neworking websites in the North Staffordhsire area for creative producers:
Freelance Local;
Culturing Stuff;
Creative Boom;
Creative Central;
and Blurb.
:: North Staffordshire Guild of Craftsmen.
Established for 25 years, the Guild holds regular high-quality fairs offering British crafts.
:: North Staffs Decorative & Fine Arts Society.
:: The county's annual Staffordshire Open Studios network - opening Staffordshire arts and crafts
studies to the public.
:: Society of Staffordshire Artists.
:: HeadTalk North Staffordshire - informal get-togethers for local creatives.
:: Leek Art Space.
 Leek & District Textiles Guild - open to
all contemporary textile practitioners. Those interested in attending future
meetings contact Janet Barn on: 01538 304494.
Near neighbours:
:: CIN - by & for professional creatives
in neighbouring Buxton, parts of the Peak, and thoughout Derbyshire. An excellent and polished website.
:: Cheshire Open Studios event.
:: Stafford Art Group.
:: Orme Art group, a... "group of people in Staffordshire and Cheshire who have outgrown 'classes'.
:: 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.
:: The Hindu Cultural Society, Staffordshire.
:: The Textile Triangle - an up-to-date website devoted to antique and contemporary work originating
from the textile towns of Macclesfield, Congleton and Leek. It is part of the Three Shires Textile Festival, and should be a useful contact point for local textiles makers and artists.
:: 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.
:: artists@work -
a dynamic group of fine artists in neighbouring south Cheshire who organise the Open Studios event
for the county.
:: Education Arts Service West Midlands - for art & design staff in West Midlands schools.
:: Creative Shropshire.
:: Creative Manchester.
:: RedEye - photography network for the North West.
SELLING ART:
See: Creative Stoke's Galleries and museums listing.
:: Staffordshire Open Studios.
:: 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".
:: Art of Staffordshire - a group website showcasing the work of
12 crafts makers and artists, most of whom participate in the annual Staffordshire Open Studios event.
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