February Newsletter 2005

Dear Arts Practitioner,

As Creative Skills enters it's fourth year we have a wide range of seminars planned and below are details for those being held over the next few months. Please remember that our courses book up quickly so return your booking form as soon as possible to avoid disappointment!

The Creative Skills e-bulletin is now sent out on a weekly basis. It is designed to provide you with information that we receive that is time limited and so falls outside the timescale of the paper newsletter. If you would like to receive the e-bulletin, please email us, so we can add you to the list. Alternatively, if you would like to advertise an event then please submit it to admin@creativeskills.org.uk in a text only format, as we are unable to send out images or attachments.

SEMINAR PROGRAMME – the fee for all seminars is £12 ·

NDT2 Dance Master Class

Saturday 12th March 2005 11.00am to 6.00pm,

The Keay Theatre, St. Austell Charge: £12

Are you a professional dancer or teacher of dance based in Cornwall?

If so, take advantage of a unique opportunity on 12th March

Karine Guizzo, who has a long association with Nederlands Dans Theatre, one of the best international dance companies to tour the UK will be leading a professional Master Class, including the chance to learn repertory from Ohad Naharin.

The Master Class will take place at the Dance Studio of The Keay Theatre, St. Austell. Free parking is available at the Theatre.

The master class is part of Hall for Cornwall and Creative Skills’ ongoing professional development programme. It precedes NDT2’s first ever visit to Hall for Cornwall on 14th & 15th June.

For details of other NDT2 activities including a post-show talk on 14th June with Artistic Director Gerald Tibbs, please contact Anna Coombs on 01872 321964

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 · WHAT MAKES AN ENTREPRENUER?

Thursday 7th & Friday 8th April 2005 [attendance at both days is essential]

9.45am - 4.30pm, Truro Town Hall, Truro Charge: £12

The word entrepreneur immediately conjures up the image of mounds of cash.

Not for me – we hear you say!

In actual fact, being an entrepreneur is a mind-set and this opportunity is for practitioners within the creative industries who wish to learn and develop practical enterprise skills.

When setting up in business or becoming a freelancer it can be beneficial to pursue an entrepreneurial outlook. Talent alone is often not enough for you to get your work noticed or be able to nurture creativity into a profitable venture. During this two day workshop you will find out how to:

· develop contacts through networking,

· discover new possibilities for your enterprise,

· persuade clients to purchase or commission,

· negotiate a better price or deal,

· and use your creativity to promote your business with alternative publicity strategies.

Alison Branagan is a London based Arts and Enterprise Consultant. She is an experienced artist and business adviser working for many high profile organisations. Over the last five years she has researched and constructed training programmes for creative people in ‘Professional Development’, ‘Business Start-up’ and ‘Entrepreneurship’. The materials and content created for her workshops is based upon unique research into entrepreneurial skills and the importance of entrepreneurship within the micro-enterprise.

Her courses and guest lectures are special as she is aware of the problems creative people face from personal experience. She is currently working as a facilitator with creative practitioners for Prevista and CIDA, and is director of the enterprise short courses at Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design.

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 · WRITING A SUCCESSFUL FUNDRAISING APPLICATION

Thursday 14th April 2005

9.45am to 4.30pm, Hall For Cornwall, Truro Charge: £12

“No one will give you money simply because you need it”

This course will provide participants with the key techniques involved in fundraising with particular reference to writing successful grant applications. It is intended that participants will be able to increase their levels of success when making applications in the future through learning and exploring:

· The key fundraising rules and principles

· Techniques to improve the quality of written applications

· A model format for grant applications

Rick Bond, Senior Partner of The Complete Works, is a consultant and trainer specialising in management development within the cultural sector. With over 20 years experience as a fundraiser he has helped organisations raise millions of pounds for a range of needs, from buildings and equipment to personnel.

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We are planning to run more IT courses in May, but do not have dates or full course information as yet. However, the courses are likely to run during Whitsun bank holiday at Cornwall College and if you are interested in receiving further information on these, please tick the booking form as an expression of interest only and we will contact you with further information. The planned courses are as follows:

· BASIC WEBSITE DESIGN

· INTRODUCTION TO ILLUSTRATOR

· INTERMEDIATE WEBSITE DESIGN

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 · FEAR AND LOATHING OF FINANCES

Thursday 23rd June 2005 Penwith Business Centre,

10.00am – 4.00pm

Charge: £12

This course will cover all the essentials for running your creative practice as a business.

The course will cover basic financial management for creative practice – simple record keeping, income and expenditure accounts, National Insurance, VAT and taxation, costing and compiling budgets.

Maureen McCulloch, a fully qualified accountant who has worked for the Independent Theatre Council as a freelance trainer for many years, will be your tutor.

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MANAGEMENT FOR CREATIVE PRACTITIONERS

Chacewater Village Hall,

COMMENCING: 6th September 2005, 9.00am to 5.00pm (followed by 5 further one day sessions)

Charge: £20

This course will provide you with a range of skills that will help you to manage yourself, your practice or your business, projects and other people. Topics covered include: Problem Solving (recognising and developing the skills needed to analyse problems effectively), Time Management (techniques and systems to help you manage time more effectively), Negotiating Skills and Working to a Budget.

The next start date for this course is 6th September 2005, at Chacewater Village Hall. It will run over 6 days on the following dates: 6th, 13th, 20th September, 4th, 18th October, 1st November. Lunch will be provided and we will be able to pay travel and childcare costs for those who attend. Practitioners who are freelance/self-employed can claim wage substitution to attend the course of £100 per session. This course requires 100% attendance. This is also available to employers who are releasing an employee to attend the course and employing a substitute.

This will be the fifth time that we have run this course. All the others have been fully booked and participants have graduated from it with flying colours! Early booking for the Autumn 2005 course is therefore strongly recommended as bookings are already being received.

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VISIT TO VENICE BIENNALE

In conjunction with Arts Council England South West, we are developing a visit to the Venice Biennale over 5 days in late September / early October 2005. We are currently waiting for confirmation of the final costs and trip details from the Arts Council, but it is expected that the cost to participants will be in the region of £100 - £150 each.

Creative Skills will have places for 4 visual artists on this trip.

· OBJECT OF THE VISIT - To provide an opportunity for 4 Cornish artists who are mid-career to see what is currently represented in the international art market, to network with international artists and curators, to see work that they would not normally be able to access due to distance, time or economic restrictions.

· APPLICATION PROCESS – Will be by written application requiring detailed reasons for why the artist wishes to apply, examples of their work, CV and professional reference eg from gallery or tutor.

If you would be interested in this opportunity and would like an application form, once they are available, please tick the ‘expression of interest’ box on the enclosed booking form.

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SKILLS DEVELOPMENT FUND

The Skills Development Fund continues to run until December 2006. Applications are considered on a monthly basis with the deadline for applications to be received on the last Friday of the calendar month. The Skills Development Fund is designed to assist people who work in the Creative Industries in Cornwall undertake training and professional development opportunities. The criteria for applications in brief are as follows:

· The activity is going to make a significant contribution to the career development and economic position of the person being funded.

· The activity is going to be a high enough quality to deliver significant benefits – e.g. helping to increase the sales of your work or enabling you to develop your skills base.

· The opportunity offers good value for money and cannot be purchased cheaper elsewhere.

· It is not possible to get funding from other sources.

Application limit £1000 (Applications for over £500 require a Development Needs Analysis to have taken place). The fund can be used to support a variety of eligible activities such as;

· Mentoring by a more experienced professional

· Work experience / work shadowing

· Research visits

· Attending training events outside of Cornwall

If you would like more details about applying to the fund, please let us know. If you are making an application please ensure that you read the guidance notes carefully and send in all the information requested.