Creative Business Works Festival

Are you a Borders creative business with an interest in sustainable livelihoods, building capacity and exporting beyond the Borders? Do you want to catch up, exchange, get inspired and raise your game with like-minded businesses?

If so, come along to the Creative Business Works festival at MacArts or join online for a day of creative business action!

The Creative Business Works festival aims to bring together creative businesses and freelancers from the Scottish Borders to discuss practical creative livelihoods, sustaining them, resilience and making the most of opportunities up ahead, including new initiatives from South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), Codebase and Techscaler.

We hope this seed event can help to galvanise activity around skills development and retention, sustainable livelihoods, partnerships, youth employment, fair work, digital, exporting and more.

Speakers include representatives from support agencies and local business case studies ranging in terms of business model and scale (in alphabetical order):

• Sue Briggs - CEO, The General Store CIC
• Flora Collingwood-Norris - Collingwood-Norris
• Sam Cornwell - Solarcan
• CABN Team
• Rachael Disbury - Director, Alchemy Film & Arts
• Russell Dalgleish - Scottish Business Network / Exolta Capital Partners
• Michael Gardiner - Digital Development Specialist, SOSE
• Kevin Greenfield - Programme Manager, DYW Borders
• Moy Mackay - Moy Mackay Gallery
• Jane Morrison-Ross - CEO, SOSE
• Carol Sinclair- Adviser
• Dr Ashley Smith Hammond - Creative Industries Officer (Digital), Creative Scotland
• Alasdair Wallace - Real Wood Studios CIC

View and download the Festival Programme and Speakers + Contributors Profiles.

You’re warmly invited to come along to the free event (refreshments, lunch and dinner are included!) to hear speaker presentations, engage in discussion and activities, and be part of regional reconnection around current business themes.

In-Person and Online Attendance

You can attend in-person at MacArts, Galashiels or online via Zoom.

The majority of elements of the in-person programme will be live streamed, therefore, the programmes for the two audiences will differ slightly. The online audience will be reminded of the timings of the online programme throughout the day.

When booking your ticket, please choose either the in-person or online ticket type.

The live stream will be recorded. Edits will feature on Creative Coathanger's website and social media. Creative Coathanger will grant interested parties with password-protected access to recordings.

Accessibility Statement

Venue - MacArts has step-free access, and only ground floor rooms are being used for the event. MacArts has an accessible toilet, a loop and a quiet space you can use during the day as required. If you require disabled parking, we recommend contacting the venue in advance to arrange. There are no charging stations for electric vehicles at the venue, so please research their availability in Galashiels via sites such as this. If possible, consider taking public transport or using active travel to get to the venue. Visit Scottish Borders Council Public and Community Transport page for options.

Online - This will be hosted on Zoom. Only people who have registered and received the Zoom link will be able to attend. This will be emailed to attendees nearer the date of the event and reminders will be sent. There will be automated closed captioning for you to switch on and adjust as required. We have asked all contributors to speak slowly and clearly to allow for the captioning to be as accurate as possible. A transcript from the automated closed captions will be saved and made available on request. Online participants’ cameras will be switched off and microphones muted on entry. These can only be switched on by you during the event. There is no obligation to use your camera. Zoom’s chat feature will be available for your participation, and a Creative Coathanger representative will monitor the chat and present the online audience's comments and questions at the in-person event.

Creative Coathanger

Creative Coathanger is a voluntary group of local creatives who want to support a more business / entrepreneurial / learning culture for creatives in the Scottish Borders by working towards a more resilient, sustainable future for the creative industries. They are focused on entrepreneurship, skills, exporting and capacity-building.

Developed by Creative Coathanger, Creative Business Works was inspired by the need to bridge the gap between the serious livelihood issues faced by creative practitioners / businesses, and the high growth opportunity of the creative sector identified by national and regional policymakers.

Funders

Creative Coathanger gratefully acknowledge funding for the Creative Business Works project from the Scottish Government, via the Scottish Borders Council’s Community-Led Learning and Development Fund.

Image credits (from top to bottom):

• Visible Creative mending by Flora Collingwood-Norris, at work in her studio
• Solarcan, © Solarcan