Over 100 creatives supported by Growth Programme in Winchester
Evolve, in partnership with Winchester City Council, has successfully completed the delivery of its Creative Industries Growth Programme.
Fully funded by Winchester City Council via the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund, the series of free masterclasses, covering subjects such as business planning, Intellectual Property Law and branding and marketing, were held between January and early March.
The programme, which was curated based on the feedback provided by local creatives, was designed to support small businesses and freelancers within the sector to take their business to the next level. Over the course of nine sessions, over 100 creatives from different businesses across the district attended.
“The workshop was brilliant … it has made me feel more confident in my business skills by connecting with others in the field. I am more likely to ask for help now that I know so many have similar issues.” Helen Northcott - Artist and Educator
Rebecca Phillips, Programme Manager at Evolve, said: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Winchester City Council to deliver this programme. I’ve met so many inspiring creatives working in Winchester and experienced the amazing sense of community, and watched it grow. Bringing practical business support and new connections has resulted in clear increase in motivation levels and productivity for participants.”
Thanks to additional funding from University of Winchester, a peer group of creatives are now benefitting from focused and relevant learning as they continue to meet.
The University of Winchester has also agreed to fund a further series of workshops- ‘The Innovating Together: SME Business Success Programme’, which will be delivered in partnership with Evolve and will be launching soon.
“The creative growth course has been instrumental in turning my blurry dream into an actual strategy. Rebecca is an incredible professional, with endless reserves of knowledge, and I can't thank her enough for the help she gave me. The highlights of the course, for me, were the business plan workshop and the 121 with Rebecca. I feel lucky to have been able to access the programme for free, and my deepest gratitude goes to both Winchester City Council and to Evolve for the splendid work they've done.” Francesco Sarti – Writer and Speaker
Jo Stark, Head of Innovation at the University of Winchester said: “We believe that as a civic university we should be supporting local businesses to thrive and recognise the particular strengths and challenges faced by the creative industries as typically micro-businesses and freelancers. The support provided by Evolve has proved invaluable and we wanted to be able to offer this to a broader range of small businesses.”
Throughout the programme, themes of sustainability and the circular economy (extending product life through repairing, sharing, reuse and recycling) were also woven in, encouraging businesses and individuals to think about the life cycle and environmental impact of their products and services and how they might make small changes to support sustainable action.
Councillor Lucille Thompson, Cabinet Member for Business and Culture, Winchester City Council, said: “The Winchester District Cultural Strategy identified our creative industries as a priority area for development, and we are pleased that the creative growth programme has proved to be popular and supported so many creatives. We are also thrilled that the university of Winchester are funding an extension and spin-off of the programme, offering further support to small businesses in our district. This is a great example of partnership working which is at the heart of our new strategy.”