Bristol creative businesses hit by the coronavirus pandemic are being offered extra support, including grants to spend on mentoring and specialist training.
The additional help is being made through the West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA) Creative Scale Up programme. 
The scheme is already providing online peer and mentoring support to help businesses respond to the unique challenges presented by the pandemic, with business resilience a key topic for the first group of 16 firms.
Recruitment for the next round of the programme is now open, with support including:
- £6,000 grant to spend on mentoring,
- Dedicated peer support network facilitated by Gill Wildman, business development advisor at media hub Watershed, and Department for International Trade creative industries advisor Mark Leaver,
- Training tailored to the specific business development needs.
One of the members of the first cohort, acclaimed Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram, pictured below, said the adapted scheme was helping businesses like his in the current climate.
“The programme is brilliant in that it brings arts organisations together – people at a similar stage in their careers and company development – with an opportunity to share best practice and the problems that we’re facing,” said Luke, who is probably best known in Bristol for the giant waterslide he installed down Park Street in 2014, which received world-wide coverage.
“There’s a real sense that we are no longer working in isolation but somehow connected and on the same journey, and we are there to support one another.
“When the pandemic arrived, we quickly moved from talking about the growth of our companies to thinking about resilience, placing our companies in a kind of long-term holding pattern and how we might need to adapt to survive. 
“It’s been amazing to have the support of mentors and the colleagues of the Creative Scale Up programme to share those problems and work through them collectively. It’s been really supportive.
“There’s a real sense of camaraderie and a sense of us advising one another within the group. It’s been brilliant, especially at a time like this, so I’d highly recommend other creative companies getting involved.”
The training scheme is guided by the participants and is able to respond to current and emerging challenges they face due to Covid-19 pandemic.
This included a Q&A session with respected former Watershed and Bristol Old Vic director Dick Penny on leading an organisation through difficult times, during which the businesses were able to draw on his valuable experience of leading transformations at both organisations.
West of England Mayor Tim Bowles said: “We rely on our world-renowned creative industries; not just for the amazing content and jobs they create, but for what they add to our sense of identity and for putting our region on the world stage.
“The firms that are on this programme will be our household names of the future and I want to make sure we help them through these unprecedented and challenging times so they can be part of our economic recovery and renewal.
“By building on the success of this scheme, more of our incredible creative firms can get the support they need.”
The programme also draws on support available from national partners, including the Creative Industries Federation, Arts Council England, Creative England, Scale Up Institute, UK Business Angels Association and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport.
Creative businesses interested in joining the Creative Scale Up programme should email creativescaleup@westofengland-ca.gov.uk.
The deadline to be part of the next cohort is July 31.
For more information on the programme, go to: www.westofengland-ca.gov.uk/business/creative-scale-up/
Other Bristol businesses among the first cohort include Arcadia, pictured top; Crack Publishing; Trigger Stuff; Cognitive Paths; Knowle West Media Centre (The Factory); Complete Control; Limina Immersive; Auroch Digital; Wardrobe Theatre; Encounters Film Festival, We Are Anagram, Visuable and MAYK.
