Bristol Creatives News

Our funding has recently come to an end. We were originally granted seed funding by the Arts Council England South West and Bristol City Council in 2006 to set the network up as a two year pilot scheme to see if there was enough demand for a creative network for visual and applied artists in Bristol.

During this time Bristol Creatives has gone from strength to strength and we now have over 900 members working in a wide range of creative disciplines from across the city. Most of us are self employed, sole traders, small partnerships or individuals with creative talents.

We have just prepared a business plan for the future sustainable development of the network, which reflects the feedback we have had from our members. The next step is to apply for more funding to set Bristol Creatives up as a social enterprise and to develop a range of revenue generating initiatives including:

• an online gallery selling members work for a small commission;

• optional paid membership that includes public liability insurance;

• a resource centre where members can access training and pay-as-you-go use of state-of-the-art photo editing, web design, image manipulation, film editing and audio software;

These new initiatives (if funded), will in the future, fund our core activities, which include:

• managing and promoting the website;

• sending out e-bulletins;

• hosting networking events;

• promoting the network and representing the interests of independent visual and applied artists.

We will keep you informed as to how these funding bids are progressing, and in the meantime will continue to manage the website and publish monthly e-bulletins.

We'd like to thank you all for your continued support and hope that you will continue to recommend us to your colleagues and friends as a unique free facility and the best source of information about all that is creative about Bristol!

Please feel free to email sally@bristolcreatives.co.uk with your comments and suggestions for this website and with your ideas for how Bristol Creatives can develop in the future.

News Update

We have just submitted our application for Bristol City Council's Key Arts Provider funding for the development of Bristol Creatives into a sustainable social enterprise over the next three years (2009-2012). We should hear whether this bid has been successful in July 2008, so we'll keep you posted.

In the meantime there's loads going on at the moment so keep checking News and Event Calendar for the latest opportunities and exhibitions and events.