NURTURE CREATIVE INCUBATION PROGRAM

An 8-month program starting this October providing bespoke meaningful business support within a nurturing creative environment to help 4 emerging freelance or self-employed creatives to successfully establish their creative practice.

Participants on the program with benefit from

- Free shared creative workspace in our new South Belfast studios. Each program participant will have 24/7 access to their own dedicated deskspace as well as use of shared communal facilities throughout the program.

- Monthly one-on-one mentoring sessions – for accountability with Blick founder Christine James

- Monthly peer-mentoring group sessions with the other program participants – for peer support, learning, inspiration, community and accountability.

- Quarterly finance mentoring sessions – to help with financial planning and advice with Blick and freelance finance manager Rosy James

- Monthly industry specific skillshare training workshops for program participants – with current and past Blick residents and team members, sharing their skills and experiences with the program participants

- Monthly online business resources, worksheets and exercises – to help you refine your idea, improve your skills and knowledge and for accountability and to establish your creative practice

- Quarterly creative talks – by local creatives sharing their creative journey for inspiration and peer learning

- Quarterly industry specific skillshare workshops – by local creatives sharing their expertise to improve skills and knowledge

- Showcasing and promotional opportunities – on our website and social media and through presenting your work at a showcase event at the end of the project

This program is aimed at emerging creatives who aren’t yet generating a full-time income from their creative practice. To be eligible to apply for the program you must have an idea for a creative business or be a self-employed creative, or creative freelancer established for less than 6 months.

Please note that due to the nature of the funding, screen and technology based businesses aren`t eligible to apply for more info visit our website or get in touch!

We have been a bit quiet on here for the last few weeks as we have been busy getting our new South Belfast space ready and working on a few new projects behind the scenes, one of which is a new program of support for emerging creatives in Belfast called Nurture, which is kindly part funded by Belfast City Council!

Nurture will feature an 8 month creative incubation program starting this October providing free workspace and bespoke business support including mentoring, peer mentoring, workshops, talks, training sessions and different exercises and resources to help 4 emerging creatives establish their creative practice.

There will also be an ongoing program of talks and workshops and online content to provide support and inspiration for self-employed and freelance creatives within the broader creative community in Belfast. 

We will be sharing more info in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, you can find more information on our website (link in profile)

Some photos from the 3rd NI Creative Hubs Meetup, hosted this time in Bangor, where we visited the following Creative Hubs

- Boom Studios @boom.studios

- Seacourt Print Workshop @seacourtprints

- The Courthouse @courthousebangor

In our latest Meet the Resident we get to know self-employed digital marketer Syed M. Noman one of our newist creative residents in our Hill St studios.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your creative work?

My name is Syed M. Noman, and I am a self-employed digital marketer. I specialize in using a variety of platforms, including Google Ads, Facebook, and Instagram, to effectively promote and sell my clients’ products. Through strategic and creative campaigns, I help businesses reach their target audiences, increase brand visibility, and drive sales. My expertise in digital marketing allows me to craft tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of each client, ensuring their success in the competitive online marketplace.

What was the biggest hurdle for you starting out and how did you overcome it?

The biggest hurdle for me when starting out was transitioning from being an employee at well-known companies like TRG, Axact, and IBEX Global to launching my own venture. Leaving a stable job to start my own business was daunting, but I was determined to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams. I took the risk and invested significant effort into building my business from the ground up. Through relentless hard work and dedication, I gradually overcame the initial challenges, and things became easier over time.

How do you stay inspired and motivated?

I stay inspired and motivated by my genuine passion for digital marketing. I love what I do, and this intrinsic enjoyment drives me to continuously improve and innovate in my work. This enthusiasm not only fuels my creativity but also keeps me motivated to tackle challenges and achieve my goals.

Where can people find you online?

Instagram @nomasays

Threads @nomasays

Friday was our last day in our beautiful Malone studios. We have been there since 2007 and have had over 15 amazing years in the studios, but due to our landlord selling the building, we are now relocating! 

We have a new property in South Belfast lined up and will be announcing details shortly. We have loved our time in Malone and are very grateful to have had the opportunity to enjoy such a beautiful building over the years, but change is good and we are excited for the future and opening our new space and announcing some exciting new projects in coming weeks! 

After a busy week of moving furniture and finishing things off, we are happy to be taking a well-deserved break for a few days before getting properly stuck in on all our exciting new projects!

Due to an insanely busy period of work and travel, this is a very belated post on some of the key lessons from our last Blick Academy Creative Talk on 5th June with Saul Duffin founder of @yeomagazine

We have a full event writeup on our blog with lots more tips and insights from Saul and lessons he has learned throughout his creative journey! (Link to blog in profile) ✨️

Here we meet and get some advice and insights one of our newist creative residents at Blick video editor Ben O’Neil.

Tell us a bit about yourself and your creative work?
I’m a video editor who predominantly works in non-scripted television. Currently working on a two part documentary series for Amazon Prime

What was the biggest hurdle for you starting out and how did you overcome it?
Getting in the door. I didn’t know anyone in tv so the biggest hurdle was getting my name about and then getting hired to work on something. I made lots of tea for years then convinced someone to let me edit a small thing.

 

How do you stay inspired and motivated?
Watching good stuff

What do you wish you had known before starting out?
Everyone is faking it a little bit.

What’s your top tip/piece of advice for anyone wanting to follow a creative path?
Be prepared to fail and then get back up and try again. Also practice your craft as much as humanly possible.

Do you have any regrets or anything you wish you had done differently on your creative journey?
Too many to list probably. Still working on that part.

Where can people find you online?
I’m thoroughly offline but my email is mebenoneil@gmail.com

Some pics 📸 from our @womenfolk.co JUNIOR.SENIOR event on Saturday 15th June with @wee.nuls and @majukooo sharing their creative stories ✨️

Happy Friday! It`s almost the weekend... some lovely light in our Cotton Court Studios earlier this week! Let`s hope we see more of it over the weekend 🌞 ☀️ 🌤

Last week I was very lucky to get to attend this year’s Hubs Meet Up Bautopia 4 Metamorphosis organised by the European Creative Hubs Network with the support of STPLN , the hosting hub in Malmö, Sweden.

This year’s Hubs Meetup was exclusively for European Creative Hubs Network members and was a three day event focusing on creative hubs and their current topics of interest and challenges. This year, it was all about delving into the transformations of our communities, the built environment around us and the impact of creators on designing how we live where we live. As well as the amazing opportunities for peer learning from and connecting with other creative hubs here are a few of the things I found interesting from the meetup talks:

Collaboration - is key, but people need to learn how to collaborate as it`s not a skill that’s traditionally taught in schools, colleges or universities.

Unlearning - we need to unlearn old ways of working to relearn new ways of working.

Cross-sector collaboration - will have a role to play in green and social transformation and future innovation, bringing together artists, creatives and industry. Creatives have different ways of thinking, methods and processes and are capable of shaping something new in lots of different ways.

CITY ECOLOGY WALK

We also got to take part in a city walk organised by Feral a creative studio and research platform for ecology in urban spaces which was a lovely way to get some fresh air, find out a bit more about the city, it’s heritage and ecology.

Some of the places we visited on the walk:

1. Traditional Herring Shacks

2. Traditional Herring Fishing Boats

3. Turning Torso

4. Redeveloped Industrial Seafront Area

SOCIAL IMPACT WORKSHOP

I also took part in an amazing social impact workshop, which I will share more on in coming days. Giving me lots of new tools and methods for measuring our impact here at Blick. I especially loved the advice that it`s ok to include anecdotal evidence including stories and observations, to build a broader picture of the real human experience and impact of your organisation. I`m looking forward to going through the process properly for Blick in coming months!