Critical creative funding announced for the North East region

Thursday 29 August marks the launch of the North East Shared Success Fund, delivered by Creative UK and funded by the North East Combined Authority. The fund is a new investment initiative designed to support small and medium-sized creative enterprises (SMEs) in the Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside areas. Business owners can apply for up to £25,000 of repayable finance to turbo-charge their ideas and business outputs.

This fund joins Creative UK’s existing bank of business support and investment options for the region, in partnership with the North East Combined Authority.

However, it fills a gap in the Creative Industries’ funding landscape that has otherwise been overlooked. The North East Shared Success Fund acts as a stopgap between alternative creative grants and loans schemes, with three core benefits to its approach:

• Recipients of the funding will repay the money, interest-free, once their project succeeds or reaches a certain turnover threshold;
• The money is accompanied by tailored support, including workshops and one-to-one mentoring, to assist creatives with the application process;
• Lastly, the fund’s fundamental purpose is to give recipients the creative freedom to solely test ideas and develop a new product or service for the benefit of the sector.

Carol Bell, Associate Regional Director, North at Creative UK, said: “The team and I are thrilled to be launching a fund of this nature for the Cultural and Creative Industries. Many early-stage creative businesses struggle with investment and cash flow when developing new intellectual property (IP) and bringing new products and services to market – this is something Creative UK, in partnership with the North East Combined Authority, wanted to address with the North East Shared Success Fund.

“Investment in a creative idea is central to the growth of the Creative Industries, and with it the creative economy, which is why we’re hoping to reach all specialisms across the sector with this fund. The intention is that the repaid funding is then reinvested to support other creative sector businesses in the future.”