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CULTURAL ENTERPRISE ANNUAL REPORT 2003/2004

Contents

1. Introduction
1.1. Chief Executive's Introduction
2. What We Do
2.1. Information Service
2.2. Mentoring Service
2.1. Consultancy Service
3. The Board
4. Achievements 2002-04
5. Plans for 2004-05
6. Contact Details
5 Complaints

1. Introduction

WELCOME TO THE FIRST ANNUAL REPORT/DIRECTORY OF SERVICES PRODUCED BY CULTURAL ENTERPRISE. WE WANT TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO TELL YOU WHO WE ARE, WHAT WE DO AND HIGHLIGHT WAYS THAT WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO HELP YOU.

SO WHO ARE WE?
AND WHO ARE YOU?

Cultural Enterprise is a not for profit company limited by guarantee set up in 1995 to provide specialist business advice and mentoring to the creative industries in Wales. Over the last eight years these services have expanded to cover the whole of Wales.

Cultural Enterprise is funded by the Arts Council of Wales and the Welsh Development Agency – this funding enables us to provide these services free to individual practitioners, micro businesses and small and medium sized enterprises working in the creative industries in Wales.

The creative industries include music, theatre, dance and pop; television, radio, film, animation and new media; graphic and product design, fashion and architecture; craft; visual art; writing and publishing.

Cultural Enterprise provides services to businesses making creative products, those selling and distributing them and those providing marketing and business services to the sector. Cultural Enterprise clients are at all stages of their development from those with just an idea to the well-established – and from clients with no experience to those with a strong track record.

If we sound like the kind of organisation you would like to know more about read on – or contact us at the Cardiff office (telephone: 029 2034 3205) or look at our website (www.cultural-enterprise.com)

1.1 Chief Executive's Introduction

Some people who know me will have heard me say that good business practice is good business practice; the nature of the business is secondary. To be successful - in whatever terms you define your personal and business success – will require you to manage your business well. Of course there are exceptions where luck seems to ensure a positive outcome for some individuals but they are by far and away a tiny minority.

At Cultural Enterprise we have a team of experienced practitioners providing business advice, information and mentoring; we are all involved in creativity and know how important it is to maintain the integrity of the business at the core of our work. We will talk to you in language you understand - it’s our own translation service – and it works!

Running Cultural Enterprise is a privilege – how many jobs offer you the opportunity to help people realise their dreams? We provide tailor made services to meet your individual needs – our enthusiasm for our work (usually) guarantees that working with Cultural Enterprise will be an enjoyable, fulfilling and useful experience.

If you are already working with Cultural Enterprise then I hope we will be seeing you again soon; if you are new to Cultural Enterprise please get in contact and see how we can work together to fulfil your dreams and realise your business potential.

Frances Medley
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

2. WHAT WE DO

Cultural Enterprise’s mission is to encourage and support the creative industries in Wales to achieve their full economic potential – We do this by providing:

The INFORMATION and MENTORING services are provided free to businesses working in the creative industries in Wales. The CONSULTANCY service is provided on a variable fee paying basis and can be undertaken both in Wales and beyond.

2.1 INFORMATION SERVICE

The information service is managed by Elin Lloyd Jones the Information Manager based in the Cardiff office.
Elin is an experienced information practitioner having previously managed the information service at NHS Direct Wales and Health Information Wales, the Patients Charter Information Service. Outside of work, Elin and her partner occasionally release music on their record label, Magic Plastic, which gives her a personal insight into how this aspect of the music industry operates.

The information service is the first point of contact for most clients, the service operates from the Cardiff office and seeks to assist client businesses with information and research into queries about any
aspect of their business.

The information service includes the following elements:

The TELEPHONE INFORMATION SERVICE can be accessed by telephoning 029 2034 3205 between 10am and 5pm Monday to Friday. The telephone information service can:

The LIBRARY AND INFORMATION CENTRE in Cardiff will be opened to the public from September 2004 and provides the following:

The WEBSITE (www.cultural-enterprise.com) provides access to information about the services of Cultural Enterprise and provides an opportunity to contact the information team direct with queries. Stefhan Caddick, Development Officer, based in the Cardiff office is responsible for the development and maintenance of the IT systems including the information database, the cultural audit client recording system and the website. Outside of Cultural Enterprise Stefhan is a practising visual artist working in sound installation and performance, and a web and print designer.

The WEEKLY E-BULLETIN provides access to a summary of current information on sources of marketing, funding and other opportunities of interest to the sector. To subscribe to the e-bulletin go to the website and follow the instructions.

2.2 MENTORING SERVICE

The MENTORING SERVICE provides one to one specialist business advice and support to creative industries practitioners and micro businesses. This service is provided through a network of mentors across Wales and can be accessed by contacting the information centre and a referral will be made to the appropriate mentor.

The mentors working for Cultural Enterprise are:

JILL PIERCY
Geographical Area Covered: Ceredigion
Based in: Ystrad Meurig, near Aberystwyth
Days worked: Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays

VICTORIA CALLEN
Geographical Area Covered: Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire (excluding Llanelli) & South Ceredigion
Based in: Llechryd
Days worked: Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays

ANDREW COOMBER
Geographical Area Covered: Flintshire, Wrexham & Denbighshire
Based in: Holywell
Days worked: Tuesdays and Wednesdays

TERENCE DIMMICK
Geographical Area Covered: South Wales Valleys
Based in: Cardiff
Days worked: Mondays and Tuesdays

CURRENTLY VACANT
Geographical Area Covered: Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend & Llanelli

MARI BEYNON OWEN
Geographical Area Covered: Cardiff & the Vale of Glamorgan
Based in: Cardiff
Days worked:Wednesdays and Thursdays

MARIA HAYES
Geographical Area Covered: Conwy, Gwynedd & Anglesey
Based in: Blaenau Ffestiniog
Days worked: Mondays and Tuesdays

JULIAN MALLORY SKINNER
Geographical Area Covered: Newport, Monmouthshire
Based in: Abergavenny
Days worked: Tuesdays and Wednesdays

RICHARD KING
Geographical Area Covered: Powys
Based in: Erwood
Days worked: Mondays and Tuesdays

Alongside the mentor team Cultural Enterprise employs ROBERT CHRISTIE, Company Manager, who works from the Cardiff office and is responsible for company management including finances, health and safety, personnel and legal issues. Rob’s background is in law and accountancy; he is a qualified solicitor.

2.3 CONSULTANCY SERVICE

The CONSULTANCY SERVICE can provide access to specialist advice on a fee paying basis. FRANCES MEDLEY, Chief Executive leads on the consultancy work bringing in other colleagues as needed. The type of work that Cultural Enterprise can undertake includes the following:

All types of project proposal will be considered and advice will be given on whom to approach if Cultural Enterprise is not able to assist.

3. THE BOARD

"Cultural Enterprise is about delivering business support to individuals and businesses that are not typically reached by the mainstream business support providers in Wales..." Meirion Thomas

Cultural Enterprise is a company limited by guarantee managed by an independent board of management. The board oversee the work of the organisation to ensure good governance including sound financial and staff management as well as the delivery of good quality services to the businesses we work with. The board of Cultural Enterprise is led by the Chairman Meirion Thomas who works in the Observatory for Innovation and Business Development at the Cardiff Business School and is a partner in
the European management consultancy, CMI International.

“Cultural Enterprise is about delivering business support to individuals and businesses that are not typically reached by the mainstream business support providers in Wales. We can only deliver if our clients and our partners are fully aware of our activities and our ability to help.

This Annual Report therefore acts as both a statement of who we are and a prospectus for those we work with and I am delighted that with the assistance of our partners in the Welsh Development Agency and the Arts Council of Wales we are able to deliver support and services.”

THE BOARD MEMBERS ARE:

ALLIE SYMONDS, Operations Director for Sequence a Cardiff based web development company.
STEVE CRANSTON, Chief Executive of Arts Factory Limited.
SUE EMMENS, partner in Blue Sky Solutions.
JOHN HARDY, freelance composer.
DAFYDD HUGHES, Chief Executive of TAC the trade association for Welsh independent television and film producers.
DAVID CLARKE runs his own creative industries consultancy business DCA (Cardiff) Limited.
RHYS MWYN currently manages the Welsh girl band TNT and singer songwriter Gwenno and works freelance as an agent, promoter, A&R for Welsh pop/rock bands.
MYLES PEPPER, Arts Business Consultant who also runs West Wales Arts Centre, a gallery in Fishguard.
PHIL GEORGE, Director of Green Bay Media, a South Wales based production company focusing on
television documentaries and feature films.
ELIN PINNELL, partner in Capital Law.

4. ACHIEVEMENTS 2002-04

5. IN 2004-05 CULTURAL ENTERPRISE PLANS TO:

E-bulletin: evaluate the e-bulletin and make sure that it is providing the information that you need. We
also plan to ask if you would like to receive it in Welsh – in 2003 we tried and failed to secure funding
to produce the e-bulletin bilingually but we intend to keep trying to deliver this.

Master classes: starting in September/October we plan to run a series of master classes around Wales where we will invite speakers from a range of fields to come and talk about their work. We hope to
deliver these in partnership with universities, colleges and specialist agencies/networks across Wales.

Training sessions: training can be expensive and so we plan to buy in training relating to creative business practice and sell it on to our clients – this way we hope that you can access training at a fraction of the cost. We hope to include a partnership with ACAS delivering courses to do with employment practice.

Networking: a number of clients have asked if we can organise networking events and we will include opportunities to network as part of the master class sessions. From July we will pilot (initially in Cardiff) a networking model based on speed dating – you will maximise your chances of meeting businesses with relevant skills and experience by avoiding having overly long conversations with very pleasant but not business relevant people. Sign up to the e-bulletin to keep in touch.

Information Centre: the Cardiff information centre will open to the public on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons from 2-5pm from September 2004. You will be able to book an appointment to see a member of staff or just pop in to browse the publications and journals in the library. Plus we will be running information surgeries around Wales - watch the e-bulletin and website for details.

6. CONTACT DETAILS

Cultural Enterprise
Chapter
Market Road
Cardiff
CF5 1QE

Telephone: 029 2034 3205 (10am-5pm Monday to Friday)

Fax: 029 2034 5436

Email: mail@cultural-enterprise.com

Website: www.cultural-enterprise.com

Cultural Enterprise is funded by the Welsh Development Agency and the Arts Council of Wales

7. COMPLAINTS

If you are unhappy with the service that you received from Cultural Enterprise please contact the Chief Executive Frances Medley by:

Telephone: 029 2034 3205

Fax: 029 2034 3436

Email: fran@cultural-enterprise.com

Service delivery is very important to Cultural Enterprise and we aim to always provide a good quality service; on those occasions where we fail to meet your expectations we will do all we can to rectify any mistakes we have made.