Based in the West Midlands, Creative Enterprise (CE) provided free business consultancy services and opportunities to over 1,800 creative sector enterprises from 2012-2015.
The project was led by Coventry University and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
CE concluded in December 2015, and as part of the project legacy a new static website was launched in January 2016.
This features a wealth of information for creative sector enterprises, covering such areas as crowdfunding, grants and fundraising, as well as details of dozens of regional and national organisations offering sector-specific support and advice.
it also features client case studies, information on a number of the consultants who delivered work for CE over its lifespan, and an overview of some of CE’s many achievements, plus vital toolkits and other useful resources.
CE helped people at any point in their business journey – from new enterprises to established businesses – by offering a range of free services and opportunities, including networking events, workshops, mentoring, consultancy, business advice and guidance, and shared workspaces.
The two main ways CE supported people were:
- Workshops and seminars – a range of workshops and seminars covering general business topics to more sector focused subjects. Workshops were designed specifically to meet the needs of creative businesses and people thinking about setting up a creative enterprise.
- Mentoring and business advice programme – 1-2-1 sessions with either a business advisor who will have general creative industries business knowledge, or a mentor who will be a specialist in their field.
To be eligible for the programme creative sector businesses had to be resident in the West Midlands area (ie. Coventry, Warwickshire, Shropshire, Worcestershire, Herefordshire, Staffordshire, Birmingham, Wolverhampton and the Black Country).
During its lifetime CE supported over 1,800 creative enterprises.
For more information, see: Creative Enterprise – Information and Resources for Creative Sector Start-Ups and SMEs.
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