Scottish Arts Council launches new scheme to get ideas to market

IFACCA/Artshub, 10 February 2005
United Kingdom

The Scottish Arts Council has launched a new scheme aimed at helping young people in the creative industries get their ideas to the market place. Ideasmart is a unique collaboration between Creative Industry agencies across Scotland. It is an entrepreneurial scheme designed to help young people overcome the gap between the creative process and business success. Grants of up to £15 000 and general business advice will be available to companies with creative ideas and commercial potential in the areas of architecture, crafts, visual arts, design, fashion, film and video, computer games, music, the performing arts, publishing, television and radio. A wide range of organisations have worked together for the creation of Ideasmart. Although initiated by the Scottish Arts Council, the scheme was developed in conjunction with NESTA (the National Endowment of Science Technology and the Arts), and is supported by The Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise National, Scottish Screen, and Highlands and Islands Enterprise. At the scheme launch, Stuart Cosgrove, a director with Channel 4 and NESTA Trustee, said: ‘Scotland has a long tradition of innovation, but often fails to capitalise on its creativity. Ideasmart recognises that it is the gap between idea and market, which is so often impossible to bridge. By offering both financial and business support this scheme can ensure that we harness the creative talent of young Scotland both to the benefit of individual companies and the nation as a whole.’ Ideasmart is currently set to run for 2 years, with 10 awards per year of between £2,000 and £15,000 being allocated in three rounds (April 2005, October 2005 and April 2006). The scheme will be run from The Lighthouse, Scotland’s national architecture and design centre, and Creative Industries hub. Graham Berry, Director the Scottish Arts Council said: ‘The Scottish Arts Council’s support for emerging creative talent in areas such as music recording, crafts, publishing, screenwriting and the visual arts led us to develop the Ideasmart concept, and we are delighted to be working in partnership to take this forward. This exciting new initiative will support people and their ideas, investing in the talent and skills development so vital for a dynamic creative industries sector in Scotland.’ It has been calculated that the Creative Industries sector contributes around £5 billion per year to Scotland, and initiatives to foster its development are vital if Scotland wants to remain competitive and viable in this area. Stuart Cosgrove will be exploring the Creative Industries further in a lecture presented by the Scottish Arts Council on ‘Risk and Innovation’ which is being given as part of the prestigious Edinburgh Lectures series. The Lecture will take place on Tuesday 22 February at 6.30pm at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh. Admission is free. For further information on the scheme and to apply for support, visit www.ideasmart.org

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