New funding announced to support creative micro enterprises

MICRO enterprises are being backed by an initiative partnership between Glasgow School of Art working with cultural tourism and heritage businesses.

The partnership, “The Place Makers: Micro Cluster Networks fund” aims to strengthen the capacity of cultural micro-enterprises and venues across Argyll & Isles.

The Culture Heritage & Arts (CHARTS) network in Argyll and Isles has partnered with Dr Michael Pierre Johnson, a researcher in the creative economy based at The Glasgow School of Art’s Innovation School. 

The project, funded by Creative Scotland and the Arts and Humanities Research Council  is supported in by Argyll and Bute Council. 

The project aims to recognise how culture has a key role in supporting and binding communities, with opportunities for socialising around performances and exhibitions.

It also aims to support the sector’s general desire for growth and collaboration and to begin to tackle the perceived lack of networking opportunities available for local creative businesses to find the right partners.

The initiative was launched in response to research which showed how the Visual Arts  accounts for a remarkable 11% of VAT/PAYE businesses based in the Argyll and Bute area.

The Place Makers: Micro-cluster Networks fund will also recognise the importance of Gaelic culture to the region, and the value in its spoken word and musical legacy in developing creative skills from school into adulthood. 

The Micro-Cluster Networks will help CHARTS members to: recognise and highlight their own creative value, and to grow their activities; work with others on shared themes of interest, with regional and national expert advice; and create clusters  of people with shared aims to profile their work in-situ.

Awards will be allocated to pilot ideas in three areas of the Argyll and Bute region from early 2021.