Supporting creative freelancers and small organisations by providing business development opportunities, access to funding, and connections to create resilient, thriving practitioners in the West Midlands ecosystem of creativity.
Read more on our work with Solihull College of how a Venue technician bootcamp has helped to fill skills gaps in creative industries.
As part of the ACTIVATE programme, we are offering FREE bespoke masterclasses. We have already delivered one masterclass 'Innovation and Creativity' masterclass.
You can now register for the second masterclass 'Culture and Creativity': which comes first?, which is FREE to attend below.
If you are interested in all things Heritage Retrofit, you can find out more about the Heritage Retrofit course below.
WMCA present ACTIVATE, a programme of support for the Cultural and Creative sector, a development initiative that forms part of the Commonwealth Games Legacy Enhancement Fund.
Activate opens access and increases opportunities for professional development and enhancement, helping to build a more equitable and collaborative sector that fully reflects and represents communities within the West Midlands.
What is ACTIVATE
A programme to grow the cultural and creative ecosystem of the West Midlands that will empower freelancers and small organisations to advance their career through a series of tailored workshops, mentoring, masterclasses, networking opportunities, and wellbeing support.
In addition, Activate Grants will be made available to creatives to unlock learning and development opportunities.
ACTIVATE has now launched
The programme has been launched and applications are now open for freelancers, creatives and small organisations to apply.
WMCA launched Activate with an information session event that took place at St Mary's Guildhall, Coventry, with guest speakers, Q&A's and a panellist, welcoming a number of attendees to learn more about the programme and network.
View our images from the launch taken by Kate Hollingsworth Photography (please credit Kate Hollingsworth Photography or/and tag @katehollingsworthphotography for social media content):
What ACTIVATE Offers:
One of the primary pillars for the CWGLEF delivery is to increase the resilience of the West Midlands cultural sector and creative freelancers. This will be achieved through interventions focusing on regional level skills development and bespoke business support which includes the:
1. ACTIVATE - workshops, masterclasses, mentoring and networking opportunities.
2. Internship Programme - to open access to culture and the creative industries and support the next generation of talent to enter the sector.
3. Future Boards Accelerator Programme - to support people from the global majority to develop skills and confidence to take on board memberships within the cultural sector as well as train organisations to better support board members. For more information click here.
4. ACTIVATE Grants - grants ranging from £1,000 - £9,000 to support freelancers and small organisations to access learning and development opportunities to support and develop their creative business and artistic practice. (applications are now closed)
Communications guidance for participants and organisations on the ACTIVATE cohort:
The programme will run from September - December 2024.
For any further enquiries on the Activate programme you can contact the team on: culture@wmca.org.uk