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Nurture Creative Incubation Program

An 8-month program to help 4 emerging creatives in Belfast establish their creative practice. Providing bespoke business support and 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. In addition they will benefit from the following support:

  • 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

 

Program dates:

1st October 2024 – 31st May 2025

 

Application criteria:

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 generating your full income from your creative idea or practice for less than 6 months. Your creative idea or practice must be in one of the following creative industries sectors

  • Art
  • Design
  • Photography
  • Illustration
  • Crafts
  • Fashion

You need to be passionate and committed to making your creative idea a reality, whether that is running your own small creative business, working full-time as an artist or creative freelancer, or a combination of these. You need to be able to demonstrate you have a plan for how you will work on your creative idea over the course of the program to make the most of the facilities, resources and support provided.

Please note that due to the nature of the funding, screen and technology based businesses, including video games, film and tv, software, advertising etc are not eligible to apply. If you aren’t sure whether your creative idea or practice is eligible please get in touch.

 

Program commitment details:

We understand that when starting out you may have a number or different work commitments, so don’t expect you to necessarily be working on your creative practice full-time, but to contribute to the program and benefit from the facilities and support available we do expect all program participants to be in the position and willing to commit for the full duration of the program to:

  • Working on your creative practice in the studios a minimum of 3 days per week
  • Attending all mentoring sessions, workshops and talks, except in exceptional circumstances which must be agreed with the Blick team in advance.
  • Complete all program exercises and worksheets
  • Complete monthly progress reports and end of program evaluations and feedback reports

In addition we want to create a nurturing, supportive and welcoming environment within the program and our studios and we expect all participants to be willing to do their best to work hard, be kind and supportive to each other and all our studio members and visitors.

Application deadline:

Friday 27th September

Apply Here

Nurture Creative Talks

Quarterly creative talks for Nurture incubation program participants and the broader creative community by local creatives sharing their creative journey for inspiration and peer learning. Starting in November. More info coming soon on our events and workshops webpage

Blick Events and Workshops

Nurture Creative Workshops

Quarterly industry specific skillshare workshops for Nurture incubation program participants and the broader creative community by local creatives sharing their expertise to improve skills and knowledge. Starting January 2025. More info coming soon on our events and workshops page

Blick Events and Workshops

Nurture Creative Resources

Monthly online business resources, worksheets and exercises shared through our Resources for Creative webpage to help you refine your idea, improve your skills and knowledge and for accountability and to establish your creative practice.

Resources for Creatives

Project kindly supported by Belfast City Council

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Some of our favourite bits from our April Creative Talk with @laurenkelsoillustrator
In April award-winning illustrator @laurenkelsoillustrator shared her creative story with us at our monthly Creative Talk!
Some insights and words of wisdom from Juliette El Fouly founder of @lecontourcandles Creative Talk earlier this year!
Looking back on this lovely sunny Monday to Juliette El Fouly founder of @lecontourcandles great creative talk for us earlier this year. Today we find out a bit about Juliette and tomorrow we will share some insights and wisdom from her talk!
We have 2 dedicated deskspaces with storage available in our Hill St studios in the Cathedral Quarter!

Quiet, professional, working space for creatives in a beautiful building right in the centre of the Cathedral Quarter.

£165 for one desk or £285 for both desks all inclusive (rates, utilities, broadband, 24 hour access, use of communal facilities etc)

Email christine@blickstudios.org for more info or to arrange a viewing
Some pics of all our lovely studios. If you're interested in taking a space with us check out our website for current workspace availability or get in touch for more info or to have a look round!
Hello! We thought it would be nice for anyone who doesn’t know the Blick story of how and why we started way back in 2007 (18 years ago!) to share it with you over coming weeks. 

Starting with a short intro to sisters Christine and Rosy who have been running Blick since the organisation was formed in 2007 by a group of young creatives (including Christine) who wanted to come together to create a great workspace for creatives in Belfast.  

Our ambition as a group of creatives was to create beautiful but affordable spaces for creatives to work in. Spaces for like-minded creatives to meet and share resources, ideas and inspiration. Spaces to build a sense of community and encourage, support and inspire each other. 

As the idea grew and evolved, Christine took over managing Blick while others in the group focused on their own creative businesses. Christine’s sister Rosy came on board as a volunteer initially to manage the financial side of the organisation. Together they have been managing Blick since 2007. 

We will be sharing the rest of our story over the next while or you can also find it on our website: https://blickstudios.org/the-team/the-blick-story/

Thanks to @verahylands for creating the video for us and gently encouraging us to do it!
Our Nurture End of Program Creative Talks will be showcasing the creatives who took part in our 8 month Nurture incubation programme which started last October!

Join us on Wednesday 28th May in our Great Northern Street Studios to hear about their creative ideas and their journeys with their creative businesses so far! They will each share their experiences and insights of starting a creative business, their advice for other creatives starting out and their hopes and dreams for the future!

Featured Creatives:

Grainne Mullan – Founder of Kitsch Sisters @kitschsistersbelfast

Wholesome crafts, creativity, cookery and garden gang based in Belfast. Weekly workshops and pop-ups

- Bethany Millican Illustrator @bethanysmillican

Artist and Illustrator based in Belfast

- Vera Hylands Artist, Videographer and Content Creator @verahylands

Artist, Videographer and Content Creator inspired by nature

�Book your ticket to hear their stories on the events page of our website (link in profile)

Our Nurture program was kindly supported by Belfast City Council
Happy Bank Holiday Weekend! Here's what's on at Blick this Month!

- Wed 7th May - Creative Talk - Artist & Illustrator Danni Simpson
Time: 7pm - 8pm
Venue: Blick Hill St

- Sun 4th May - Seaside Books Beginner 6 Week Poetry Workshop Course�
Time: 2pm - 4pm
Venue: Blick Great Northern Street

- Tues 6th May - Seaside Books Intermediate 6 Week Poetry Workshop Course�
Time: 6.30pm - 8pm
Venue: Blick Great Northern Street

- Tuesday 27th May - Womenfolk Peer Mentoring�
Time: 7pm - 9pm
Venue: Blick Hill St

�- Wednesday 28th May - Nurture Program Participants Creative Talks
�Time: 7pm - 9pm
�Venue: Blick Great Northern Street�

�Find out more on our website: �https://blickstudios.org/events/�����