When creativity becomes tricky business

Starting up a company when you’re an artist can be tricky business, but a scheme in East England to assist creative people do just this is producing some success stories.

‘Business is a funny thing to get into when you are a creative – you think, ‘I’m going to go and start a business,’ and you are an artist or designer. What you are not is a business man.’

This is the contradiction Richard Walley came across when he decided to start up his now thriving multimedia business, Orpheo.

Walley was working as an assistant for a magazine when he began working on the company’s website. From there, he discovered he had a knack for design and wanted to enter a more creative field.

Along with his Orpheo business partner, Charles Henderson, who had found himself in a similar situation as a photographer, the pair went about seeking start-up funds.

Through the Princes Trust, the pair were referred to Arts Connection, a project to support young arts entrepreneurs in their region, developed by East England Arts in collaboration with the Princes Trust.

The aim of the project is to provide funds to businesses that may not qualify for traditional funding.

For example, young people embarking on their first business venture often have a difficult time proving their new company’s viability when applying for a bank loan.

‘Running an arts-based business is different from any other kind of business,’ Walley explains.

‘You’re selling the service and you’re selling, quite possibly, what is a new unique service, unique to you as a creative entity. Arts Connection help with things like bridging the gap between creative and commercial,’ he said.

Unlike an industry like Advertising, where creative teams produce the creative work and account managers sell it to the client, a small company like Orpheo doesn’t always have this luxury.

This was the challenge for two creative-minded entrepeneurs like Henderson and Walley – coming up with the creative idea was their forte, how to sell it and run their business as well was something they felt they needed to work on.

‘There’s a lot of help available for small and large businesses, but Arts Connection helps to start up businesses for young people and tailors it towards the creative industries. As far as I’m aware, it’s quite unique,’ Walley says.

Orpheo, established in January 2001, provides a wide range of digital communication services using photography, 2D and 3D animation, music, video and interfaces.

It now counts multinational companies like BP and music publishers Editions Peter among its high-profile clients.

Walley and Henderson’s company also reached the Regional Final of the 2002 Shell Livewire business awards.

Since its launch two years ago, over 80 young people have become involved in the Arts Connection project.

Businesses have come from a wide variety of backgrounds; from costume design, to web designers, ceramic artists, to street entertainers.

Aside from funding assistance, participants in the scheme receive advice from a business mentor and general business counselling from the Princes Trust, and marketing support from East England Arts.

Aileen Muir, External Communications Officer for East England Arts, said the program has been a success.

‘The creative industries are identified as an area of growth and the East of England is especially rich in creative talent, with more individuals employed in the arts than any other region outside greater London .

‘Initiatives like Arts Connection are essential in supporting and enabling arts businesses to make an even greater impact on the region’s cultural economy,’ she continued.

Ms Muir said Orpheo is a good example of the kind of project Arts Connection is looking for.

‘Orpheo’s unique combination of creative work across different media is exactly the kind of arts/business crossover that Arts Connection exist to support,’ she said.

As far as funding goes, Ms Muir said some new businesses receive small discretionary grants of up to £200. All participants are eligible for loans which again vary, ‘but it would be safe to say they average £750,’ Ms Muir said.

Orpheo received around £5,000 in loans and grants from the scheme, according to Walley, who added they couldn’t have established the business without the funds and business planning support they received.

Now, with a couple of multinational clients under their belt, Walley and Henderson are feeling positive about the company’s future.

‘We are very much looking forward to the future,’ Walley enthused. ‘It seems a lot of larger brands are doing more innovative and creative work, like the mobile phone companies for example. We would also love to do more work with non-governmental organisations. Oxfam used superb multi-media to back up their recent ‘Big Noise’ campaign. These are the sort of porjects where we can use our skills to the greatest effect.’

For more information on Orpheo, contact Richard Walley on 01206 728265,or go to www.orpheo.co.uk