A SCHEME is being launched to support creative freelancers in Coventry and Warwickshire.
A pilot project, known as Coventry & Warwickshire Creative Freelancers, aims to support the area’s freelance community following the devastating impact of the pandemic.
A new website to connect local freelancers with each other and communities – from television producers to performing artists and game developers to graphic designers – is to be unveiled at Warwick District Council’s Spark event.
The event is being held at the Royal Spa Centre in Leamington, between 10am and 4pm on Friday February 11.
The scheme has been driven by a number of organisations including Warwick District Creative Compact which was established to deliver Warwick District’s Creative Framework – a five-year strategy to grow the area’s creative sector.
As well as connecting freelancers, the scheme aims to develop and deliver campaigns to showcase the area’s creative talent, support businesses to work with freelancers by producing tool kits, and promoting the value of the freelance community .
Chair Sarah Windrum of the Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership, which is also behind the scheme, said freelancers were an important part of the region’s creative eco-system.
“CWLEP’s Digital Creative Business Group identified ‘freelancer support’ as a priority area for its programme of work during the pandemic because we wanted to assist with the recovery and growth of the creative sector following Covid-19,” she said.
“We highlighted to the government the lack of funding and support that was missing for those who were self-employed, which affected the creative industry specifically.
“Following on from that, we have been working in partnership with Warwick District Creative Compact to launch a new website for freelancers who are the core of our varied creative industries in Coventry and Warwickshire.
“We hope this pilot programme will really connect the sector and that as many people as possible will complete a short questionnaire on the Creative Freelancers website so that we can gather intelligence to provide future support.”
Johnathan Branson, Warwick District Creative Compact manager, added: “We are delighted to launch this exciting new initiative, which we hope will support our creative freelance community in a useful and meaningful way during these challenging times.
“We have included a questionnaire on the website because the more we know about creative freelancers in the area and the challenges they face, the better the programme of support will be.”
Visit www.CWCreativeFreelancers.org to get involved.
