Creative Bursary Award Celebration

Some pictures from our Bursary Celebration on 8 March which celebrated all the 125 companies who have been funded through the CL bursary scheme since 2005. Rhys Davies of Hive Films won a final Bursary Celebration Award of £1500 which he's going to spend on new lenses. Nick Dunn of Horus Music also got a highly commended as did instrumental teacher Alice Little. Well done to all. We had such a good time we thought we should arrange another celebration next year....

Vote for Duck in a Bucket Designs

Local glass artist Ema Kelly of Duck in a Bucket Designs and former Creative Leicestershire Bursary Winner, has been nominated for a national Craft & Design ‘Selected’ Award, for the second year running.

After winning Silver in the glass category in 2010, Ema has been put up for the public vote again. With categories ranging from glass to furniture, paper to metal, the scope of designer makers is vast. The quality of design and technical skill is particularly high in these awards due to the strict application process.

A new twist has been introduced to the awards this year. To spice things up, the artists with the most public votes will be sent to a specialist judge for each category. Judging the glass will be Peter Layton, an extremely well know and well established maker who has been glass blowing since the 1970’s.

Ema states “It would be an honour if I could get to the stage where Peter Layton would even consider my work for an award.”

Craft & Design, a vibrant bi-monthly magazine all about British Craft, offers winners free promotion in their publication and online plus the opportunity to take part in exhibiting events nationwide.

“I hope that the awards will help make the general public more aware of the sort of talented makers that are out there in the UK.” says Ema. “Winning the Silver Award last year has been an invaluable marketing tool for me, and I’m really looking forward to the exhibition at the Ferrers Gallery in April.”

You can place your vote for Ema and view her new profile page online at www.craftmaker.co.uk/emakelly. Voting closes on the 31st March 2011. Every vote makes a difference!

Employment in the arts fair - 18 March

We are working with Leicester College/Critical Mass to present a day of guest speakers next week, giving talks and one-to-one advice on how to get ahead in the arts industries. It will be on Friday 18 March at Upper Brown Street (formerly Phoenix Arts) Off Newarke St, Leicester LE1 5TE.

Guest lectures are:
10.00am Where and How to look for Arts jobs (Clare Hudson, Creative Leicestershire)
11.00am Developing a Festival (Geoff Rowe, Leicester Comedy Festival)
12.00pm The Freelance Dance Artist (Liz Clarke)
13.00pm Developing a Performance Company (Esther Simpson, Metro-Boulot-Dodo)
14.00pm Sustaining a Participatory Arts Company (Andy Reeves, Speakeasy Theatre Company)

The event is free - no need to book.
If you'd like to bring a group, please call 0116 224 4081 or email krowberry@lec.ac.uk with any enquiries.

New online tools for business

Business Link and HMRC have just released some online guides for SME's to help keep their business records on track. They have been produced in advance of the launch of HMRC’s new Business Record Checks programme later this year, which will impose penalties for significant record-keeping failures.

• Keeping records for business - what you need to know: a basic guide with a helpful list of where to get more information. www.hmrc.gov.uk/factsheet/record-keeping.pdf
• A general guide to keeping records for your tax return: detailed guidance on record-keeping covering what type of records you may have to keep, common problems and examples for different types of business. www.hmrc.gov.uk/sa/rk-bk1.pdf
• Set up a basic record-keeping system: with examples of spreadsheets and information about setting up a record-keeping system. www.businesslink.gov.uk/recordkeeping
• Find out what records you should be keeping: looks at the records you need to keep and assesses how well you are keeping them. If you are thinking of starting business the tool provides you with a checklist. If you are established it will give feedback and advice on improvements you may need to make. www.businesslink.gov.uk/recordkeepingcheck

Free tools for promoting music

Nick Dunn at Horus Music gave a whole host of fantastic tips on promoting your music at his workshop for us last week. Just a few of the free tools/tips he gave were:

• When recording your music make sure you do a 'radio edit' of some tracks (of max 2 mins 30 secs)


• Also make sure you have footage of you in the studio or live to put on utube etc


• Tastemakers such as http://www.wearehunted.com/ can help you reach a wider public


• Make sure you are registered with PPL (for performers) and PRS (for writers) to get any royalties you are owed.


• Have some regular social interaction with fans/followers live and online via Facebook, Twitter, Ping (for Itunes) etc


• http://www.bandcamp.com/ helps you sell music and merchandising to your fans


• Get some response to your work at soundcloud.com


• http://www.rumblefish.com/ can help you license your music for use in film, adverts, games etc. If you are serious about getting licensing deals look at how the BPI can help (eg. the LA Sync Mission).


• The Music Managers Forum http://www.mmf.net/ is a great source of support for managers/record labels.

Many thanks to Nick at http://www.horusmusic.co.uk/

Succeeding in comedy in Edinburgh (& Leicester)

Chris Lander from the comedy promoters Phil McIntyre and Geoff Rowe from Leicester Comedy Festival came to talk to a small, but quality group of aspiring comedians on Saturday at Embrace Arts, Leicester. Both had many hints on how to make the most of performing at Edinburgh and Leicester. Key hints for stand-up and theatre shows included: - Get as much stage time as possible to hone your act before going to Edinburgh. You can often get uppaid slots through social network sites such as Chortle's Open Mic networks and Facebook's many Open Mic networks. - Make sure you have some material online. Increasingly acts are getting agents/bookings because of the number of hits they are getting for sketches and excerpts on Facebook/utube etc - Have followers. People will be more likely to give you a gig or slot at a Festival if you can bring an audience with you. - See Edinburgh and Leicester as a showcase. Audiences are important, but focus on getting agents, promoters, reviewers and other comics to see your show. Leicester Comedy Festival continues until Sunday 20 Feb: http://www.comedy-festival.co.uk/

Time Management for Creatives

Mark McGuinness' session at the LCB Depot went well last night. Here is the link to his ebook on time management: http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/2007/12/03/time-management-for-creative-people-free-e-book/ I thought the following exercise was useful: 1) List what you love to do 2) List what others love you to do 3) Look at the overlap 4) See how you can maximise this overlap as much as possible