Entrepreneurs In Creative Industries Get Ahead With The University of Greenwich
People starting their own business in fields like music, art, media and design are finding success with the Upstart programme at the University of Greenwich.
And now there is another opportunity to sign up for the ten-week, one evening a week, course. The next one, called Creative Commerce, starts on 9 October.
“The course helped springboard my enterprise and gave me confidence to pursue it as a business as well as a creative venture,” says Julia Alvarez. She runs the art gallery ‘Bearspace’ in Deptford and has gone on to open a second gallery. Sales have increased tenfold.
Successful entrepreneur Joanne Sawicki, an Upstart teacher and mentor, says: “How do creative people get the skills to run a successful business? Their education has usually been spent becoming a better artist, performer or designer. This course shows how to develop and grow a business. Each student has an individual mentor from an appropriate industry. I’ve kept in touch with some of the students and it has really worked for them.”
Harps Singh had an idea to make promotional videos for independent musicians and new bands, helping them to sell direct rather than depending on a record label. Joanne says, “He saw a gap in the market and went for it. He is typical of the entrepreneurial people who attend the course.” Harps says the course gave him access to information and support he would never otherwise have got. “Normally people don’t want to tell you all their ideas but here you can ask questions openly and discuss things in detail. And the other people on the course gave it a really good atmosphere.”
Juhi Shareef came with a vision of an online environmental community and search engine called “The State of Bliss”. Since doing the course she has got seed funding and expects it to be up and running in 6 months. “It will join up the green dots around the UK”, she says.
Creative Commerce runs on Tuesday evenings from 9 October to 11 December and will give students a Postgraduate Professional Development qualification. Book a place at www.gre.ac.uk/upstart or email upstart@gre.ac.uk or phone the Enquiry Unit on 0800 005 006 for more information. A course for more experienced entrepreneurs, Growing Your Creative Business, starts in January 2008.
Notes for editors:
Upstart is a training, consultancy, mentoring and networking initiative for entrepreneurs, freelancers and companies in the creative sector. It is run by the School of Humanities at the University of Greenwich.
London is the UK’s creative capital with 40% of all jobs in the UK’s creative industries; already generating more than £20 billion annually, the Greater London Authority (GLA) hopes it will be a £30 billion business by 2012, outstripping the city’s financial sector.
For a picture of Julia with Upstart staff at the Bearspace gallery, and more information, please contact:
Hester Brown, Press Officer
University of Greenwich
Tel: 020 8331 7663
Mob: 07876 193 481
hester.brown@gre.ac.uk