East London Creative & Cultural Futures
Receive grant funding & support to help you grow & develop your creative business
Who is this programme for?
Open to all creative freelancers in Tower Hamlets, East London; you may be an artist, graphic designer, illustrator, craft person, film maker, photographer, or dancer – These are just some of the professions in this amazing space.
Please note funding has now been exhausted, but we are keen to continue supporting creatives through our workshops and 1-1s.
The offer
We’re working with London Borough of Tower Hamlets to provide grant funding to creative freelancers from the borough. Delivered alongside workshops and support focused on helping to develop their business. Creatives will receive:
- Up to £1,000 grant funding to adapt & support business resilience, training, equipment or materials etc. Funding has now been exhausted.
- 1-1 support to help identify the most effective use of this grant & support
- Expert led workshops on topics such as Business Model Canvas
“The skills I gained from it have helped me to scale my business with clarity and confidence, I would do it again in a heartbeat.”
Catch Rhys Jones
Founder of Catch Rhys
Important stuff
- Project to conclude by 31 May 2022. Funding has now been exhausted, but our team continue to support creatives through workshops and 1-1s.
- Applications reviewed on a rolling basis and will be subject to active participation
- Funding & support available for at least 60 selected eligible applicants
- This programme runs from East London
- Sessions will be delivered as much as possible from East London, with some online delivery and mentoring
Still have questions?
If you’d like more information about the programme please get in touch with the team at hello@futurebusinesscentre.co.uk or sign up to our newsletter to hear about future programmes.
FAQs
Creative and cultural industry freelancers who may not have been able to benefit from previous government supported Covid initiatives. You will have a business trading address in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
Beneficiaries will need to show that they are working as a creative and cultural freelancer (in a capacity other than as an employee) before March 2021 in a location in the borough in one or more of the cultural and creative sectors, and certify that such work:
- is in substance their sole occupation; and
- has been carried on for at least six months before their application
Funding is available to these freelancers for an adaption to the freelancer’s business in order to support business resilience, training/courses, advice, certifications, equipment or materials.
Examples include but not limited to skills development, marketing, employment, business plan reviews, raising finance, accounting, software, advertising, website development and membership organisation fees.
We expect you to attend at least 70% of the course content as it is critical to ensure you have a comprehensive picture of the issues entrepreneurs face. You should dedicate 2-4 hours a week for the duration of the programme, except for the Minimum Viable product workshop in month 2, which will operate at a different time schedule. You should engage with your Business Advisor to ensure you are getting the maximum benefit and on occasion you will be set homework tasks.
The Allia enterprise support team will guide you through the tools and techniques to get a business idea out of your head, rapidly iterate on it and run it through some steps to see if it ‘holds water’. We will also give you helping hand to understand the basics of running a business.
Recommended for you
Case studies
Check out some of the stories from our previous programme participants, and hear how we helped them to develop their creative business
Other programmes
If you’re not sure if Creative and Cultural Futures is right for you, check out our other programmes on Our Programmes page
