Please note: Since publication this crowdfund has closed. £988,776 was raised in 28 days with Yuup reaching 131% of its desired fundraising target.
Yuup, the Bristol-based online local experiences marketplace, has been offering the city’s creative community a platform to generate income through hosting experiences since it was founded in September 2020.
In just a year company has grown from supporting just under 40 experience hosts to now being a community with over 270 people and small businesses and 500+ experiences to enjoy throughout Bristol city.
On Yuup’s platform you will find anything from unicycle lessons to rum tasting, wild winter swimming to hot air balloon rides, and pottery making to fresh pasta making masterclasses. Each one of these unique experiences is hosted by a local person that can’t wait to share their skills and passion with new people.
The platform has seen side-hustlers and hobbyists turn their favourite thing to do into a business and their main source of income. In the past year, Yuup has generated over £450k of income for local people and small independent creative businesses in the Bristol and Bath region.
Maria Fernandez, from Healing Weeds, hosts foraging workshops in Bristol. Her experiences teach guests how to identify seasonal wild produce and how to make balms, medicines, cordials, and elixirs from the foraged harvest. Using Yuup, Maria was able to change her career in order to properly pursue the thing she loves. She said:
“Yuup helped me turn my hobby into a business and Healing Weeds is now my main source of income.”
Since launching in the middle of a pandemic, Yuup has been used by Bristol creatives to help their income streams and businesses bounce back from lockdown and the effects of the pandemic.
The drop in economic activity within the UK in response to the pandemic impacted SMEs and the self-employed significantly in comparison to their larger business counterparts.
Local businesses were forced to adapt in order to survive. For indie businesses that could facilitate experiences, Yuup provided a platform that allowed alternative revenue streams to the local businesses that were struggling to achieve their pre-pandemic footfall.
Alice from Trylla shop on North Street joined Yuup early on in order to use the platform as a kickstart to her business’ post-pandemic recovery. Her pottery making experiences have been so popular that Alice has since hired new staff to help support the demand for her pottery classes on Yuup.
Yuup’s positive social impact extends to platform support, marketing, and a ticketing system for charity events and fundraisers. Yuup’s recent collaboration with Belly Laughs comedy festival 2022 raised over 22k for charity and generated over 10k of revenue for local restaurants and bars. The company have also recently supported grassroots charities such as MAZI Project and KASK’s Ukraine Fundraiser.
At the start of February 2022, Yuup announced that the business will be opening up investment to the public to allow for the company’s scaling up operations this year. There are a number of ways that you can join the Yuup community. As an investor, as a Yuup host, by introducing a Yuup host, or as a customer.
How to join the Yuup community as an investor: Yuup’s crowdfund is open until March 31st, and the funds raised will go towards reaching hundreds more potential experience hosts in Bristol and Bath, generating income and jobs for locals and the communities that need it most.
Yuup will also be launching in its second city this summer, connecting creatives, makers and dreamers from another UK city to the Yuup community.
You can join the crowdfund from as little as £20. You will own a part of Yuup and participate in the financial rewards of share ownership. Your investment will support local independent businesses whilst helping even more people to discover incredible things to do in their local area. Visit the Yuup crowdfund webpage to watch the investment film and find out more here: https://invest.yuup.co/
How to join Yuup as an experience host: If you are a creative or passionate local person, you could turn that love of something into an experience for others to enjoy. Yuup helps people create, promote, and host experiences.
It’s free to join the platform, and you get simple tools, a host portal, and marketing support and investment. A small commission is taken from each sold experience, so Yuup only makes money when you make money.
The scope for experiences is almost boundless. From food and drink tours to cooking classes, craft workshops to cinema nights, outdoor adventures to indoor wellbeing sessions. If you love it, why not share the experience? Get in touch with the Yuup team about your future experience here: https://www.yuup.co/pages/join
How to introduce an experience host: Do you know a wicked weaver? A crowd-pleasing cook? A passionate painter? A cool climber? Refer your friend to the Yuup team and help them turn their passion into a business. Refer an experience host here: https://www.yuup.co/host_referrals/new
How to join the Yuup community as a customer: Just browse yuup.co and pick something that you would love to do! Alternatively, you can also buy experiences as gifts, purchase gift cards, or use Yuup’s experiences in your employee rewards scheme.
Inequalities in the UK arts and cultural sector have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and lessons must be urgently learnt, a new report has claimed.
In what is described as one of the world’s largest investigations into the impact of COVID-19 on the cultural industries, the Centre for Cultural Value said “the impact of the pandemic has aggravated and accelerated existing inequalities and longer term trends across the arts and cultural sector”.
The report found that the impact on the sector’s workforce was not experienced evenly with individuals already under-represented more likely to leave cultural jobs in 2020. Younger workers, women and people from ethnically diverse backgrounds were among the hardest hit in terms of lost work and income.
Freelancers also suffered significantly, the report found. They constituted 62% of the core-creative workforce before the pandemic and only 52% by the end of 2020.
Researchers acknowledged that the Cultural Recovery Fund was crucial for ensuring the survival of cultural organisations, but they were critical of the funding for not reaching all affected freelancers, despite them making up the majority of the arts and cultural workforce.
“Perhaps the most significant finding from our study is…that we need to better understand the vital role that freelancers play in the cultural industries,” the report said.
“Our research has highlighted the need to identify freelance cultural workers in a much more robust and nuanced way so that we can map the sector more accurately and appreciate its complex infrastructure.”
Such an approach, it said, would ensure freelancers do not fall between the gaps in emergency support during any future crisis.
The pandemic saw a huge increase in digital content as cultural organisations that were forced to close turned to the internet to share performances and art collections.
This made content cheaper and more accessible but the report found it failed to significantly diversify audiences with roughly the same type of people engaging with cultural content as before the pandemic.
A digital approach did transform the experiences of many people with an established interest in the arts though, especially disabled audiences and older people living away from major urban centres.
The pandemic also made organisations rethink the way they engage with local communities by communicating through social media when closed and continuing a hybrid approach after reopening. It paid off for some with increased footfall from the immediate area and more spending per head at certain venues.
The crisis also highlighted the key role culture plays in the UK economy. “The importance of the cultural and creative sectors to animate and stimulate night-time economies and town and city centre high streets was keenly felt, and cultural investment was made a key priority for the first round of ‘Levelling Up’ funds and in many locally led recovery plans,” the report said.
In addition, schools and community groups benefitted from the shift by museums, galleries and theatres to local engagement and social media initiatives such as the #CultureInQuarantine and #MuseumAtHome campaigns attracted thousands of people. “In general, audiences were most drawn to content that privileged empathy, intimacy, community, locality and nature,” the study found.
Another positive was the value of culture for wellbeing. The majority of audiences believed digital culture had a positive effect on their mood and managing anxiety, while most people who increased their digital engagement during lockdown intend to continue doing so.
The report said these developments show that digital is worth investing in for cultural organisations. However, to have a positive impact and reach diverse audiences, it advised that online content must be “embedded in a long-term strategy of audience and school engagement”.
The research said networks played a key role in supporting the cultural sector through the crisis. Organisations came together to find solidarity, co-discover new ways of working, find new business models and lobby policymakers for additional support.
Networks can build long-term resilience, the study added, but it warned “there is a real risk that this effective mode of working, which briefly united what is traditionally a fragmented sector, might disappear post-pandemic without targeted support”.
The report warned that the UK’s cultural sector is “at an inflection point and facing imminent burnout alongside significant skills and workforce gaps”. As a result, “regenerative modes of working” need to be “urgently” adopted, it said.
“This approach would carve out time for all of the positive initiatives that we witnessed across the cultural sector during the pandemic: revisioning and restrategising, professional and network development, reflection and evaluation, play and innovation.
“But regenerative models involve sacrifices: less producing and production, less product and income, less hidden labour and overworking, less solipsism and introspection. This vision can only be realised if the cultural sector keeps working together as a joined-up ecosystem and doesn’t rupture at the seams.”
We’re the membership network uniting Bristol and Bath’s creative industries behind a common cause, driven by the belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone. Join as a member and benefit from industry expertise, training, leads, curated news, kudos and more.
The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has unveiled a new document which highlights why the west is the go-to place for investment in the creative industries.
Launched by Metro Mayor Dan Norris, the ‘Cultural Plan‘ showcases the region’s art and cultural businesses alongside details of how WECA intends to support creativity across the West of England.
“The West of England is an incredibly vibrant, diverse and creative region,” the plan says. “It includes the two thriving cities of Bristol and Bath along with divergent towns and communities.
“The region is recognised as a national and international cultural and tourist hot spot, with a vibrant mix of urban, rural and coastal areas providing an exceptionally diverse cultural ecology.
“But the West of England is also one of the country’s economic success stories. It is the most productive city region in England outside London, with a breadth of innovative businesses and a highly skilled workforce.
“With economic links to Wales, the Midlands, London and the South West, ensuring a strong economy recovery in the West of England will help to drive a wider national recovery.”
The plan outlines some of the incredible statistics which highlight the breadth of the creative industries in our region.
The sector has around 7,000 businesses which employ 50,000 people and contribute almost £2bn to the regional economy.
The West of England is home to the UK’s third largest TV sector with 445 production companies including Bristol Creative Industries members Aardman Animations, Troy TV, Woven Films and JonesMillbank.
Many major TV shows have also been filmed in Bristol and Bath. They include Stephen Merchant’s The Outlaws and Netflix’s Bridgerton.
Several have been filmed The Bottle Yard studios which recently announced a £12m expansion.
Around 800 million people each month watch digital content produced in Bristol and Bath.
The West of England also has the UK’s most productive technology sector and a fast growing games industry with examples such as the chart topping Game Plague Inc created by Bristol agency Ndemic Creations.
WECA says its vision is to “create a region which is an international exemplar of the power of culture to transform and enrich lives, places and businesses”. That vision has four areas of focus:
“The creativity of every child and young person in the region should be given space to flourish; and that emergent talent should be given every means to succeed,” the plan says.
WECA says it will ensure culture is included across the curriculum and “develop inclusive, ambitious and effective skills pipelines for culture in the region and beyond”.
Proposed initiatives include cultural sector school twinning, cultural curriculum exemplars and targeted cultural and creative careers support.
Bristol Creative Industries is also committed to diversity in the creative industries. When we revealed the new BCI board of directors last January, we said: “The diversity of Bristol’s creative industries is something we are immensely proud of, but we also recognised the need for our board to better reflect that diversity. We need individuals who can bring different perspectives and experiences and help us widen our reach across the city. That will help us to future proof the organisation and better support our members.”
Steps we have taken so far include launching The Talent Network which gives 17 to 21 year-olds the opportunity to network with creative employers in Bristol and Bath.
“We will prioritise recovery from the impact of Covid-19, but also focus on the need to thrive and prosper in the period ahead,” the plan says.
WECA’s proposed initiatives include a freelancer transition, an industry leading accelerator programme and a targeted inward investment campaign.
Bristol Creative Industries’ member directory is a brilliant showcase of the creative industries innovation in the region.
“Investment in culture drives productivity and employment and contributes to the regeneration of areas and revitalisation of our high streets. It helps to bring communities together – opening up new perspectives, encouraging participation in civic life,” the plan says.
WECA says it will “place culture at the centre of placemaking, community-making and regeneration strategies with proposed initiatives including a Cultural Infrastructure Toolkit and Charter, an immersive digital experience, working with partners to create a coherent and compelling narrative for the West of England and a “regional mega-event”.
“Culture is an essential part of a life well lived. Arts and culturebased interventions offer new and surprising ways to promote the health and wellbeing of communities and to help them flourish and grow. Participation in culture is a fundamental human right, as outlined in Article 27 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” the plan says.
WECA says it will “ensure that all residents and visitors can access culture and cultural activities for their own wellbeing, development, and enrichment” with proposed initiatives including an arts and homelessness civic plan, widening access to culture including targeting specific barriers for groups and communities, disabled access support and supporting libraries to deliver cultural experiences.
“In the coming years I am determined we do much more than just survive, but to go on and really thrive – to build back even better and progress far further. I want to ensure more local people than ever before have the opportunities to achieve their full potential and make sure as many people as possible know about the amazing things we do here. Above all, I want to put our truly great West of England region even more firmly on the map for national and international success.”
We’re the membership network uniting Bristol and Bath’s creative industries behind a common cause, driven by the belief that we can achieve more collectively than alone. Join as a member and benefit from industry expertise, training, leads, curated news, kudos and more.
Cultural Plan cover image credit: Artist Luke Jerram’s temporary installation, In Memoriam, on Weston-super-Mare beach, September 2021 © Mark Gray
The year-long exhibition of Mexican-American artist Octavio Medellin features a variety of works dotted across multiple sites in and around the city that inspired them.
To celebrate his life’s work Fiasco created a tactile, interactive map of Dallas, which allows visitors to explore and discover the key locations, landmarks and public artworks associated with Medellin’s career.
“We wanted to create a map of Dallas with a curious sensibility that avoids cliches of rodeos and cowboys, in favour of a playful, celebratory take on the artist’s life and legacy.” – Mike Frost, Digital Designer, Fiasco Design.
Illustrator Nicolas Burrows helped to bring the vision of Medellin’s Dallas to life by developing an abstract and figurative style of imperfect collage illustration. Playing with exaggerated mark-making techniques, the illustrations reflect the craftsmanship and philosophies that underpin Medellin’s work. The colour palette champions his use of raw materials – using pops of brighter hues to create a dream-like, more positive vision of Dallas. The overall feel echoes Medellin’s spirited, childlike love for craft.
A prominent figure in the Texan art scene, Medellin was passionate about sharing his wisdom and championing the next generation of artists. Adopting Medellin’s ethos, the website is designed to land with a broad demographic: an inclusive space for people from all walks of life to learn and be inspired.
The site is joyous for all to explore; a tactile digital experience that connects with the sculptural qualities of Medellin’s work through Burrows’ playful interpretive illustrations.
The navigation around the site helps to break up six decades of work in a digestible way for all to enjoy. Whilst the playful user interactions and bold colour palette connect this artist of huge cultural significance with a new, younger audience; keeping his work relevant to this day.
“It was a real joy to work with Dallas Museum of Art on the site for this unique exhibition of Medellin’s work. They were a fantastic partner, seeing our vision for the microsite and really getting behind it. We’re excited to see how the map is received.” – Ben Steers, Creative Director, Fiasco Design.
“Fiasco were amazing to collaborate with, and were truly innovative in their approach to our interactive map creation. They came up with amazing creative solutions, as well as providing real time brainstorming and troubleshooting along the way. We’re thrilled with the result— and the interactive museum engagement with both our members and the public!” – Lizz DeLera, Creative Director, Dallas Museum of Art.
You can view the full case study here.
Cerba Research, one of the world’s leading central, specialty and diagnostic laboratory services companies, have appointed AgencyUK to support their marketing communications effort from 2022. The appointment follows a competitive pitch that involved a number of agencies from around the world.
Cerba Research is owned by Cerba HealthCare,a €630m company and France’s national health service laboratory provider. The French group has grown on the five continents and draws on 50 years of expertise in clinical pathology to better assess the risk of diseases development, detect and diagnose diseases earlier and optimize the effectiveness of personalized medicine. Cerba Research plays a key role in this ambition to scale further as they become one of the world’s leading laboratory services companies as the industry moves ever closer to the human designer medicine model for drug discovery and development programmes.
Cerba Research has been operating for 35 years, with a global network of 450 clinical laboratories anchored in seven centres across the globe including in the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions.
Cerba Research’s expertise and track record them an attractive partner for government agencies and non-government organizations as well as pharma and biotech companies thriving to change the shape of their clinical development.
“We are delighted to be working with Cerba Research during an exciting period of growth. As they continue to scale we will help them with their brand strategy, the rollout of their marketing communications, their employer brand as well as their digital capabilities, through web, mobile app and CRM platforms. We have unique experience in the healthcare sector that has led to us doubling our pharmaceutical portfolio since 2020, and Cerba Research is another significant addition” says Sammy Mansourpour, MD AgencyUK.
“We were looking for an experienced partner that brought both creativity and technical capability and we found this in AgencyUK. They have a good reputation in the healthcare sector and have previously delivered many of the vital components needed when a company like Cerba Research is in fast growth. Their insight and guidance so far haves already started to help us shape our future strategy and we’re excited for this to continue” says Sofie Vandevyver,, Head of Business Operations and Marketing, Cerba Research.
AgencyUK has already appointed Amy Boundy as Head of Strategy previously of VML London to help lead the account. Amy joins the team bringing her experience of working with pharmaceutical and biotech organizations as well as managing clinical trial programmes for the NHS.
Amy works closely with the NIHR team to increase the numbers of research projects taking place in Primary Care.. Studies include those focused on treatments for Covid-19 in the Community, such as the Principle and Panoramic platform trials and chronic conditions such as coronary heart disease and diabetes.
“I’m fascinated by the work many biotech companies do in their search for the next therapeutic drug discovery, and this has been my passion when working for agencies and pharmaceutical companies directly. AgencyUK has a unique proposition, with a fast growing healthcare portfolio and an enviable list of global brands. I’m looking forward to joining the team and embarking on the next chapter with Cerba Research” Amy Boundy, Head of Healthcare Strategy, AgencyUK.
Specialist CRM agency Flourish has strengthened its commitment to putting the customer experience at the heart of everything it does with the appointment of former TSB and Bank of Ireland marketing head Emma Stacey as a non-executive director.
The move follows a recent management restructure at Flourish that has seen Ian Reeves appointed Managing Director. The new senior management team will maintain Flourish’s pragmatic approach to CRM, whilst expanding the use of data available through search and social to continually improve the relevance of customer led journeys.
Stacey will advise Flourish as the team look to consolidate their position and move into the next stage of their growth plan. Flourish will draw on Stacey’s vast experience, gained in the financial sector, of putting customers at the centre of every marketing experience, whilst achieving financial objectives.
Managing Director Ian Reeves said: “I am absolutely delighted to welcome Emma to the Flourish family. Our whole team and our clients will benefit from Emma’s wealth of knowledge. The ‘money confidence’ TSB campaign demonstrated the importance of data driven communications, something Flourish champion with all of our clients and I’m looking forward to Emma helping us as we onboard new clients in the future.”
To promote and celebrate Single Awareness Day Hart & Jones have designed a range of scented candles. With tongue-in-cheek titles Stupid Cupid, Love Yo Self & Single AF SAD candles are the perfect accompaniment to your singleton self-care. A solid reminder that you don’t need a relationship to celebrate love.
If you have had enough of love-sick couples parading their relationships at Valentine’s then you are not alone. The expectation to be in love has led to 40% of our population associating the holiday with negative emotions, with many being left feeling lonely, insecure, depressed or unwanted.
From these feelings of isolation Single Awareness Day was born, a day to enjoy your singleness rather than drowning in your sorrows. In protest to the commercial monster that is Valentine’s Day, SAD is celebrated on February 15th , a day to enjoy singleness, empowerment and self-love. Honour the joy and freedom of being single and give love to the person most deserving of it, you.
Global education service provider and brand owner of TopUniversities.com, QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) have appointed AgencyUK as social media partner. QS is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insights to the global higher education sector and famed for its university rankings, which have become the annual benchmark for universities around the world.
AgencyUK were appointed following a three-way pitch, in response to a social strategy and brand awareness brief set by the QS marketing team. AgencyUK will develop the organic social media strategy for the higher education and student communities around the world and launch a new programme of social media content off the back of it.
The pitch was overseen by Tim Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer at QS. Its purpose was to find an agency team who can support, unite, develop and promote their mission – to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility and career development.
The first wave of activity undertaken by AgencyUK includes strategy and creative that is based on education sector insights gathered from their world-leading independent market research and data analysis. The strategy will extend into the development of a global strategy and social media content plan rolled out in partnership with the QS global marketing team.
Tim Edwards, CMO, QS, said: “We were looking for an agency with strong strategic and creative capabilities and a track record in disrupting competitive markets. QS has grown rapidly through a combination of new product development and corporate acquisition, but we remain focussed on maintaining our market leader position, and to do so means being closer to our target audiences and continually investing in channel marketing.’’
Amy Stobie, Commercial Director, AgencyUK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been appointed by QS. They are a well established brand with a host of well known digital properties and a continuing ambition for growth. Our social and creative teams are well placed for reaching out to these target communities and we’re keen to get going.”
AgencyUK are an independent brand communications agency with 32 staff based in the UK. The company has demonstrated 200% growth over the pandemic period, largely attributed to the expansion of their healthcare portfolio. QS is the fifth global account win in the past 12-months.
First event: 10th February 1.30pm – 2.15pm
Bristol-based web design and development agency, Unfold has just launched a brand-new events series, Below the Fold. The series centres successful business people, giving them a platform to share learnings from their journeys. Hosted by Unfold’s founder, Harry Cobbold, these events aim to educate and inform attendees with insider knowledge and tips for success.
What it takes to get your business acquired
The first episode in the series will see Gapsquare’s Zara Nanu taking the guest seat, with Harry interviewing her on Gapsquare’s recent acquisition and what it takes to build and acquirable business.
You can catch the event on 10th February 2022 from 1.30pm – 2.15pm. All events in the series will be held virtually via Zoom for the foreseeable future. If you can’t make the date, you can register in any case and you will be sent the session recording following the event.
Register for the event here.
As we approach a new year, Bristol Creative Industries editor Dan Martin looks back at 2021.
It has been another very challenging year for business. We started 2021 with the pandemic continuing to take hold and we sadly end it with COVID-19 still very much dominating the headlines.
As restrictions eased over the summer and we saw a welcome return to in-person meetings and events, we were hopeful of a return to business as usual in 2022. However, Omicron looks set to have put paid to that with new restrictions very much on the cards in the new year, if not sooner.
But if there’s one thing we know about creative industries businesses in our region, it’s your resilience and creativity!
We’ve seen so much innovation over the past 12 months and we are delighted to see increases across all our membership categories as businesses looked to the network to boost knowledge and form new collaborations.
Our total membership is up 50% over the year with business membership seeing a 26% increase. In addition, individual membership has risen 20% and our student membership has grown by 123%.
Chris Thurling, chair of Bristol Creative Industries, said: “Despite the immense challenges of the pandemic, the year at Bristol Creative Industries has included many positives.
“The situation has encouraged more businesses to see the value of connecting, networking and collaborating. It’s great to see an increase in our membership, our events remaining very popular and the growth of many member businesses. At times throughout the year, our jobs board has featured more jobs than ever before!
“The prognosis for the creative industries in the region is a healthy one. In many ways, lockdown has liberated the creative industries from the south east. Many have realised that to build a successful business, you don’t need to be in the centre of London.
“People still want to be near a strong ecosystem and Bristol and Bath have got the combination of factors needed to be competing as alternative locations for creatives.”
The year kicked off with a big announcement as we revealed the new BCI board of directors. They are Julz Davis, Marissa Lewis-Peart, Heather Wright, Gail Caig and Dr. Susan McMillan.
As we said in January: “The diversity of Bristol’s creative industries is something we are immensely proud of, but we also recognised the need for our board to better reflect that diversity. We need individuals who can bring different perspectives and experiences and help us widen our reach across the city. That will help us to future proof the organisation and better support our members.
“We are extremely grateful to the stellar line-up of individuals who have joined our board. With their incredible expertise, they will help us build stronger connections with creative businesses, government organisations and individuals in all corners of the city.”
Talent and diversity remained a strong theme throughout the year and a focus of our efforts to support our members.
It’s a subject we discussed with Heather Wright, the BCI board director who spent 22 years at Aardman, during an in-depth interview in July.
She said: “You get a better quality of idea when you have lots of different windows on the world in front of you. Everybody comes with a different window and a different viewpoint. The more ideas you have in the room from different places the better.
“That’s the problem with the Westminster bubble; they talk to people like themselves all the time. The only way to break out of the bubble is to go further and have a greater diversity of ideas. That comes from a greater diversity of people including ethnic diversity as well as age, people who are less able bodied etc. It’s all about having people with something different to bring which is not the usual employing people in your image which is often the worst thing you can do.”
In September, we launched The Talent Network which gives 17 to 21 year-olds the opportunity to network with creative employers in Bristol and Bath.
The first event allowed young people to find out what skills creative employers are looking for – now and in the future – and to ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask such as ‘how do I get a job in TV?’, ‘What skills should I focus on?’ and ‘How can I turn gaming into a career?’.
Chris Thurling, BCI chair, said: “A common challenge for our members is the struggle to hire a workforce with the right skills. There are, however, lots of young people with the skills needed but they don’t know the pathways in.
“BCI is there to do the things agencies can’t do on their own and by adding our unique capabilities, we can help tackle the challenge of connecting talent to businesses. We have already started with initiatives like the Talent Network but it is just the start of many things to come.”
We had a busy events programme this year including our monthly virtual members’ lunches where we love catching up with lots of you.
We’ve also had many workshops and keynote events. Big thanks to all the experts for sharing their expertise.
January:
BCI board member Marissa Lewis-Peart led a student networking event and Kit Altin led an online workshop on writing the perfect creative brief.
February:
David C. Baker, described by the New York Times as “the expert’s expert”, joined us from the US for a brilliant keynote event covering how creative businesses can write the perfect positioning statement. We’ve summarised his tips here.
March:
Social media expert Drew Benvie told us all about the app that everyone was talking about, Clubhouse. Read a summary of his tips here.
Digital agency mentor Janusz Stabik began a series of three workshops explaining the strategy needed to run an efficient and effective agency. Read Janusz’s blog post on how to attract better quality agency clients in three easy steps and download his free strategic growth planner for digital agencies.
Lawyer Rebecca Steer from Steer & Co delivered a Brexit and Covid-19 legal update. Find the latest legal news and advice on Rebecca’s blog.
Katie Scotland began a series of four workshops to help attendees use their strengths to feel more confident, have more impact, build better relationships & create more inspiring ways of working with others.
April:
Paul Feldwick worked at the legendary creative agency Boase Massimi Pollitt for over 30 years. His latest book, Why Does the Pedlar Sing?, examines what creativity really means in advertising. He joined us to share some of his insights. Read a summary here.
May:
The team at Tonic Creative Business Partners shared perspectives on what makes great content.
June:
Kit Altin returned for a workshop on how to be more persuasive, and Tom Evans, co-founder of strategy, design and communication agency BEHAVIOUR, shared advice on presenting creative work.
August:
We held our first in-person event for many months as a group of BCI members joined us to discuss funding for creative businesses. Attendees said it would be useful if we could provide regular updates on the finance schemes that are available for creative companies in the south west and beyond. As a response, we published this post and we’re keeping it updated.
September:
We ran a networking event with a difference as a group of members donned their walking boots to explore the beautiful Mendips. The feedback was very positive and we are planning to run another Walk & Talk event with Outside next spring.
Andy Nairn, who has been named the UK’s number one brand strategist for the past three years, joined us for a fascinating and entertaining event. In his new book, he explains how the history of marketing and advertising is full of brands that stumbled across great ideas by accident or turned misfortunes into huge successes. During the event, Andy highlighted examples and outlined the lessons for creative companies. We summarised his insights here.
Consultant Mette Davis-Garratt and Morag Ofili from Kiltered began a brilliant five-part series to help people make sense of what diversity and inclusion means for their business, why it matters, and how to turn the conversation into action.
October:
With the aim of giving 17 to 21 year-olds the opportunity to network with creative employers in Bristol, we launched a new collaborative initiative called The Talent Network. We teamed up with education provider boomsatsuma for the first event and gave young people the chance to find out what skills creative employers are looking for and to ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask.
If you’re a creative industries employer and would like to get involved in The Talent Network, please contact [email protected].
Anne Thistleton, who has spent over 20 years as a marketing practitioner in the field of mind science, joined us from South Africa for an online event where she shared fascinating insights about how understanding the way the human mind works can help creatives build more effective campaigns. Here’s a summary of her brilliant advice.
One of the benefits of Bristol Creative Industries membership is publishing your own content on our website. We love reading your news!
BCI members have won plenty of awards this year including Unfold, Mr B & Friends and Launch.
Other reasons to celebrate included Atomic Smash becoming a WordPress VIP Silver Agency Partner, the opening of Gather Round’s second co-working space in Bristol and Gravitywell being named among the top app developers in Bristol.
Congratulations to you all!
We’ve seen some fabulous innovation by BCI members for great causes in 2021. Here are some examples:
We love behind the scenes peeks at our members’ businesses and this post is one of our favourites. It’s the story of how digital designer Mayumi Kurosawa has overcome incredible odds to get to where she is today – a much-loved member of the Proctor + Stevenson team.
Bristol is home to some of the best arts organisations in the UK and we were delighted to welcome two of them – art gallery Royal West of England Academy and concert hall St George’s Bristol – as members in 2021.
BCI members have also shared some brilliant business advice in 2021. Here are the 20 most popular posts.
You can read all the news, advice and updates from BCI members here.
Looking at wider happenings for the creative industries in Bristol and Bath, 2021 has been a huge year for film and TV production in the region.
In a very popular article, The Guardian said: “TV crews are falling over each other to film drama in ‘Bristolywood'”, with a 225% rise in production on pre-pandemic levels. There were four major drama productions under way in Bristol in 2019/20. That grew to 13 during the first quarter of 2020/21 and since January this year, 15 high-end TV dramas have been filmed in the city.
Among the high profile shows calling Bristol their home are The Outlaws, the comedy thriller from local boy Stephen Merchant, and BBC legal drama Showtrial.
Forget James Bond, here’s the red carpet event of the year. Premiere of my new show The Outlaws last night – and proud to hold it in my hometown of Bristol. #theoutlaws pic.twitter.com/YCmlFWhF3d
— Stephen Merchant (@StephenMerchant) October 5, 2021
Bath has also been popular with production companies including being transformed into a winter wonderland in the middle of autumn for the new Willy Wonka movie with Timothée Chalamet.
Animation is a big deal in the region too, thanks to the likes of Bristol Creative Industries member Aardman, which has recently launched Robin Robin on Netflix.
Speaking of Netflix, the streaming giant organised a special event in Bath’s Assembly Rooms in November to celebrate the success of its productions made in the South West. The location for the event is featured in global hit Bridgerton.
As the film below shows, the UK economy has been boosted by over £132m over the last two years as a result of Netflix productions created in the South West of England.
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In other broadcast events this year, Channel 4, which opened a creative base in Bristol in 2020, delivered its evening news programme from Bristol Beacon on 10 September. It was part of the Black to Front project, a day of programming featuring Black presenters, actors, writers and experts, contributors, and programme-makers. The one hour news broadcast featured a wide-ranging discussion on contested heritage, Black Lives Matter and Bristol mayor Marvin Rees on what has happened since the toppling of the Edward Colston statue.
Publishing its “blueprint for the future”, the BBC said it will expand its BBC Studios base in Bristol. BCI chair Chris Thurling said: “Spreading investment more evenly across the UK is the right thing to do, and I welcome the BBC’s explicit commitment to Bristol.”
The creative industries education sector continued to grow in 2021 with the breadth of courses on offer to the next generation demonstrated by this guide we published in October to further and higher education in Bristol and Bath.
BCI member bootsatsuma has done some great things this year including an innovative street poster exhibition showcasing the work of some of its brilliant students.
Access Creative College resurrected Bristol’s iconic Bierkeller as an events and education space. The venue previously welcomed some of the biggest names in music to its stage, including Nirvana, The Stone Roses and Arctic Monkeys.
Despite what has been another hugely challenging year for the arts, you could still get your cultural fix in Bristol and Bath with artists and others adapting to the need for safe and outdoor events.
Street art festival Upfest was cancelled again but more than 75 murals were created on the walls of south Bristol for locals and visitors to explore during their own personal walking tours.
Bristol artist Luke Jerram, who has achieved international success, brought his stunning In Memoriam installation to the city’s College Green in October. It was created from over 100 flags, made from NHS hospital bed sheets as a memorial to losses during the COVID-19 pandemic and in tribute to the NHS, health and social care staff and volunteers who have given so much to so many.
Luke Jerram’s spectacular Museum of the Moon, a suspended model of the moon measuring seven metres in diameter, went on show in Bristol Cathedral in August and is displayed in Bath Abbey until Christmas Eve.
As the COP26 conference took place in October, an art piece was installed in Pulteney Weir in Bath to highlight the climate change emergency. Sinking House is a red 5.5m by 3.5m house semi-submerged in the water.
The brilliant Love Bristol campaign continued with the painting of socially distanced hearts which were perfect for sitting with your household or group of six to enjoy takeaways from nearby businesses in the spring sunshine.
The festive edition of the campaign is Christmas Adventures, a trail of illuminated lyrics from classic Christmas songs.
Royal West of England Academy launched a multi-million pound renovation project with pop-up exhibitions in other venues around the city so people can still enjoy the art.
We end the year with uncertainty. As a new variant of coronavirus takes hold, it’s possible we will see in the new year with more restrictions. It may not be a full lockdown but we’re likely to return to Zoom calls, takeaway eating and quieter streets.
There is much to look forward to though. We have been so impressed by the continued resilience and innovation of our region’s creative businesses in 2021 which stands us in good stead for the future.
BCI is here to support and we urge you to take part in our super important survey so we can shape our future support and advocate to the government what the region’s creative economy needs.
As we wish you all a fabulous Christmas and brilliant new year, we’ll close with the words of Alli, our membership manager, from her interview in September:
“We help members to learn, grow, and connect. It’s through connecting that people learn and grow. We are a community of people who have a common interest of working in or being interested in the creative industries in Bristol and the surrounding area. We’re the central hub that brings everyone together.”
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