Outstanding Opportunity for Auckland's Creative Venturers

ART Venture, a unique acceleration programme for creative, entrepreneurial people working in the arts, cultural and creative industries sectors is on the lookout for candidates for its 2010 intake.

Building on the successes of ART Venture and ART Source 2007 and 2008 programmes, the Arts Regional Trust Te Taumata Toi-a-Iwi (ART) is once again looking for start-up and experienced creative entrepreneurs who are serious about accelerating their skills, projects and businesses. This time the programme will include a focus for participants who want to develop their creative enterprise to maximise potential Rugby World Cup opportunities.

“The Rugby World Cup represents an opportunity for those creative, entrepreneurial thinkers and doers to provide unique experiences, services and products to people travelling to New Zealand and as well as those wanting to showcase and build awareness of their creative products when the world’s spotlight is on us in 2011,” says Candy Elsmore from ART. “We want people to be ready for this opportunity as momentum for the Rugby World Cup builds.”

ART Venture 2010 is a year-long programme that provides up to 15 participants with access to the resources they need to meet their creative enterprise or project development goals. Programme Director Elisabeth Vaneveld explains, “The programme provides a flexible yet intensive action-learning environment that, through peer-to-peer support, specialist coaching, a seed fund pitching process and an innovative curriculum, accelerates the creative enterprise development of each participant.”

“It’s a unique opportunity for those who are driven and hungry to succeed. Throughout the programme participants get direct personalised input to help them develop strategies to take their creative enterprises and projects to the next level."

Previous ART Venture, and its sister programme ART Source, participants have included Andrew Malmo [theatre producer], Renee Bevan [jewellery designer], Justin Lewis [theatre director/producer], Shona McCullagh [filmmaker, choreographer], Jamie McLellan [designer], Philip Patston [social entrepreneur] and Claire Cowan [composer].

Andrew Malmo says “ART Venture in 2008 provided me the most amazing opportunity for personal and business growth. I found the process exceeded my expectations in so many ways, but most importantly for me was the bonding with fellow ‘ART venturers’: having regular in-depth engagement with friends who supported and challenged my thinking, planning and decision making, and to whom I could contribute.”

Charmaine ‘Iliau says that she began her development “with a dream to build my own architectural consultancy focused on Pacific Architecture. In the last two years I have built a versatile company that works around my current stage of career development, has ongoing contracts from Fiji and New Zealand, and gives me the leverage to work as an independent designer and consultant when most graduates are unfortunately out of work. The programme helped to build my business acumen, confidence in managing and operating a small business, and placed me around a supportive local network of creative entrepreneurs and internationally extended industrial networks to Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Brisbane and Fiji. My involvement with ART was truly a rare, invaluable and uplifting experience.” 

Andrew Malmo recommends the ART Venture programme as a “progressive and dynamic way to develop individuals within the arts community; providing them the tools and insights to better equip them for the challenges they are to face as they move their businesses, their art, themselves and the sector forward.”

“We have been hugely impressed by the progress of the people who have completed the 2008 and 2007 ART Venture and ART Source programmes. High-achievers, many of them have substantially advanced what they were doing before entering the programme, and navigated their way through what has been a challenging time for the arts, culture and creative sectors, and the national and global economies,” says Elisabeth Vaneveld.

Looking forward, now is a great chance for a fresh group of people to apply for the 2010 ART Venture programme, which takes place from July 2010 to June 2011. “It’s really important to spread the word and so that everyone who is right for the programme gets their application in the running,” Vaneveld says.