Stallholding, Enterprise Fairs and Dedications

The Creative Leicestershire team have been busy over the past two weeks with talks, fairs and the launch and dedication of Stand Easy, a memorial to honour Leicestershire's Armed Forces that took place last Friday at County Hall.

On Tuesday 30th November we attended the seminar for creatives on How to Present and Sell your Work at Craft Fairs at the LCB Depot aimed at emerging and mid-career designer makers and stallholders for the upcoming Makers Mart on 8th December.
The event was a partnership between Creative Leicestershire, Design Factory and LCB Depot and we were very fortunate to have two excellent speakers, Clare Gage and Phiona Richards come and give us their tips and advice on the key ingredients needed for a successful craft fair including producing a memorable stand and how to get the best out of social networks.

 Clare Gage designs and creates her distinctive textile inspired ceramics from her studio in Derbyshire. The inspiration for the Clare's range comes from her life-long love of textiles. She is passionate about products being functional as well as stylish and likes to celebrate the British tradition of afternoon tea http://claregage.com/

Top points from Clare:

1) Be product focussed, allow people to engage with your work and be interactive with your work

2) Make it memorable - have a brand identitiy, think about the 'wow' factor so you make the most of your hard work

3) Read the documents they send on what you can and can't do

Phiona Richards creates interactive book sculptures using traditional needlework techniques. From a ‘make do and mend’ mentality, she is drawn to books near the end of their existence and transforms them into pleasing tactile structures. Although her book sculptures appear to be fragile and delicate, they are quite robust and interaction becomes a therapeutic experience on many sensory levels. http://rarenotions.co.uk/
Top points from Phiona:
1)Get your pricing  right
2) Use your promotional material & think about packaging
3) Think about all your marketing - mailing list , newsletters and offers , sharing your news via social networks
4) Think about last minute planning - toolkit  so you can ....
5) Relax and enjoy the day
On Tuesday 6 November we attended the Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Fair in the Hugh Aston Building  organised by De Montfort University's Campus Enterprise Opportunities (CEO) team in the Student Gateway . We found we had a steady stream of students and recent graduates enquiring about Creative Leicesterhsire and met some interesting organisations supporting graduates and students in business such as  Enternships.com,  the DMU Enterprise Society, Princes Trust, Seed Creativity and Smith Partnership. Good Luck to Tom Wingfield who has just launched his intriguing new publishing company Tangible Publications http://tangiblepublications.co.uk/


On Friday 9th November guests were invited to the launch and dedication of Stand Easy - a memorial to honour Leicestershire's Armed Forces. The tribute is a striking bronze sculpture depicting four young recruits of all three services taking part in a military drill with a central  plaque inscribed with the words 'They Stand Among Us'  and was created by Glasgow based sculptor Kenny Hunter. Kenny worked with a group of cadets from Welbeck Defence Sixth Form college to develop the casts which were used to model the bronze figures and bereaved families worked with Kenny to develop the inscription. The implied absence of a fifth figure conveys a sense of loss yet also symbolises camaraderie, unity and personal identity.  The service was a  moving tribute and we were very proud have been there to support the event and the creative team who worked on it.

Coming soon ... Making a Living Hinckley, the Artists in Learning Networking event and Culture Club!

Creative Leicestershire E-bulletin November 2012

The latest Creative Leicestershire bulletin is out now.

Arts Council Grant for Opera Minima

Opera Minima (former Creative Leicestershire bursary winner) has just received news of their successful bid to Arts Council England for their production in November 2013 of Mozart’s Magic Flute.

The grant is £8,000 and it means that the company will be able to stage a much more elaborate show that would otherwise be possible, but still keeping ticket prices at a remarkably low level.
Music Director is renowned pianist, accompanist and repetiteur Nicholas Bosworth, who accompanies the performances, directing from the piano. Magic Flute will also have a small band with keyboard, flute, panpipes and glockenspiel as well as a plethora of electronic sound effects.

Opera Minima has received funding from the Arts Council nearly every year since 2004, and this is the third year running, a particularly commendable achievement in the current arts climate.

Singers are mainly young professionals in the early stages of their careers, but Minima’s growing reputation in the profession means that they often attract more experienced singers, especially for more challenging repertoire.

They are currently rehearsing Beethoven’s Fidelio, with a number of singers with an international career, such as Elizabeth Stannard in the title role who attracted rave reviews when she sang the role in Sydney Opera House: “ The greatest triumph of opening night belonged … to our Fidelio. Elizabeth Stannard … sang with confident, expressive artistry, her facility with the role’s challenging runs and wide tessitura easily compensating for a slight lack of heft..”

Gillian Leftwich, Artistic Director
www.operaminima.org
info@operaminima.org

Joining the Creative Leicestershire team!

I have now been here one week and in that time I have been introduced to lots of people I will be working with including the brilliant Creative Leicestershire team, Fred Brookes and Lucia Masundire. I've witnessed a brand new sculpture, created by Kenny Hunter, going up at County Hall - 'Stand Easy', a memorial to honour Leicestershire's Armed Forces. I've also been to two networking events and importantly found my way to the canteen!
The first event was part of the series of Wellbeing Wednesdays - a month of events, on each of the five Wednesdays this October, to help celebrate and champion the many ways which culture and the arts contribute to our collective and individual wellbeing. 'Your Choice' was held at the Atkins Building in Hinckley and around 20 different service providers chatted to service users and their carers about the services they had on offer, ranging from 'Beauty and Utility in the Arts' - managing arts and health projects, to Changing Minds - promoting positive mental health using the arts, sport and leisure, to creative writing workshops with Sue Mackrell and David McCormack to  3ZERO, a small recording studio in central Leicestershire catering for all abilities and all genres of music to Not Your Average Theatre group offering performance, drama and dance to adults with learning disabilities. It was a great event with over 100 people visiting the stalls and taking part in various activities .
The second event was the launch of the Sustainable Enterprise scheme with the Prince's Trust working with partners, Enterprising Leicester to encourage and support young people into business. We heard inspiring stories from the young people receiving their certificates from the Prince's Trust, about to launch their businesses and we were offered some impressive aims from Leicester's Business Support Network such as their assisting 2,812 people to start a business  and placing 180 graduates  into SMEs by 2015.

I hope I shall see many of you at a networking event soon and please don't hesitate to dop me a line to say 'Hi' .  To make sure you receive the Creative Leicestershire ebulletin with jobs and funding opportunities as well as events, sign up here

Catherine Rogers -  'the new' Arts and Creative Industries Manager

Creative Leicestershire now has a Facebook page and Twitter @Creative_Leics follow us and keep up to date with news & events relevant to the creative industries

Working with interns: things to consider

Internships and other types of work experience provide a great opportunity for people to gain first hand experience of working within an arts organisation or creative business. Host organisations also benefit from such schemes as they gain access to talented individuals. However, such schemes should not be used as an attempt to avoid the regulations that govern the National Minimum Wage.

While there is no legal definition of what an intern is, there is one for a 'worker' and if it is established that the intern satisfies this status they are entitled to be paid at least National Minimum Wage. A 'worker' is defined as anyone who is engaged under a contract (whether that be written or implied) to personally carry out any work or services. The host organisation is also required to pay any tax and national insurance contributions for all 'workers' and employees and failure to do so is a criminal offence.

There are many work based opportunities that internships are not, for example volunteering (which has its own legal definition), work experience or apprenticeships. However, it is important to note that changing the name of an opportunity available to an individual does not change the legal requirement to pay at least National Minimum Wage. If the individual can establish that they have worker status, then they are entitled to be paid at least the the National Minimum Wage.

If you are unsure as to whether your intern, volunteer or work experience placement has worker status, the HMRC have a handy tool to help you check their employment status. Try the Employment Status Indicator tool.

Arts Council England and Creative Choices have published guidelines to help clarify the legal obligations of arts organisations offering internships and Creative Skillset have published guidelines for those working in creative businesses.

Creative Leicestershire August ebulletin

The Creative Leicestershire August ebulletin is out now. With lots of information and opportunities for people working in the arts and creative industries in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

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Creative Leicestershire July ebulletin

The Creative Leicestershire July ebulletin is out now. With lots of information and opportunities for people working in the arts and creative industries in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.

Click here to see the ebulletin.

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