Creative Leicestershire April ebulletin

The Creative Leicestershire April ebulletin is out now!!

Lot's of information, opportunities, jobs and commissions for people working in the arts and creative industries.

Make sure to subscribe to the ebulletin to receive it straight to your inbox every month!

Get mentored! Creative Leicestershire's mentoring scheme

Creative Leicestershire are looking for 10 individuals, at any stage in their career, who are interested in working with a mentor over a six month period in 2012 to support their professional development.

To apply you must be;

• based in Leicester, Leicestershire or Rutland; 
• over 18 years old;
• currently working professionally full or part-time in the arts sector (either as an artist/creative or arts administrator/manager). 

You may apply with a mentor in mind, or ask us to help you find one. We will expect you to work up a development plan for yourself and we will give you £500 towards carrying out the plan.

Download the application information here. If you have any questions email lucia.masundire@leics.gov.uk

Deadline for applications is Monday 30 April 2012.

Wistow Gallery is Now Open

Wistow Gallery, is a new independent gallery at Wistow Rural Centre in the beautiful south Leicestershire countryside.


Run by Kate Foster, the gallery opened in March 2012 and showcases the best contemporary craft, art and design from the county. They have sourced an exciting, constantly changing and affordable range of ceramics, glass, jewellery, prints, paintings, wood, cards and paper crafts, textiles and much more, all created uniquely by very talented artists from Leicestershire and Rutland.

So if you are looking for a gift, a unique souvenir of your visit to Leicestershire, or something new for your own collection, come and see what some of the best makers, designers and artists in the region have to offer…

Kate is a Furniture Design graduate who lives with her husband and two daughters in Kibworth near Wistow. In the year she turns 40, Kate is realising her long-standing dream of opening her own gallery.

To keep up-to-date with products, artists and events at Wistow Gallery, visit their website and/or follow them on Twitter @WistowGallery.

Selling art & craft online

Thanks to our excellent panellists for this event on Tuesday: Jewellery maker Sharon Dickinson (of Archives Crafts), Amanda and Alison of Giftwrapped and Gorgeous and James Boardwell, founder of Folksy. The key points for selling online were:
- Get good professional photography (well lit, professional models)
- Have a range of work at different price points
- Be niche/specialist - there's a lot of competition out there
- Have a story behind you and your work
- Share your thoughts and enthusiasms

Creative Leicestershire March ebulletin

See the March edition of the ebulletin for lots of information and opportunities relevant to people working in arts, design and media.

This months edition includes:

• Funding for people working in Film & Media
• Call out's for artists & designer makers
• Information on the Creative Leicestershire Arts Mentoring Scheme

Register to make sure you receive the ebulletin straight to your inbox

Epublishing Discussions

Excellent panel discussion took place on 22 March, led by Leicester Writers Club. Amanda Grange - a romantic novelist who sells online as well as in print - summed up the advantages of self-publishing:

• it's fast (can take over a year to publish through traditional system)


• if you have the rights, you can publish your backlist


• you can get a much high percentage of royalties (eg 70% via Amazon)


• you can publish work which might sell in relatively small numbers (which wouldn't interest a mainstream publisher)

And the disadvantages:

• the work won't be in libraries and bookshops


• the work won't be reviewed in the big journals

Rutland Open Exhibition submissions

We are supporting Arts for Rutland to run the Rutland Open Exhibition at a new venue this year. Submission days are Saturday 17th and Monday 19th March at Rutland Museum in Oakham. Costs are £5 to submit one work; £10 for 2 and £15 for 3. Selection takes place on Tuesday 20th and prizes include £250 prize from Creative Leicestershire. Application info, including the compulsory form is under Visual Arts on www.artsforrutland.co.uk and the exhibition runs from 24 March to 21 April.