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WOMENFOLK JUNIOR.SENIOR

Introducing our new reformatted @womenfolk.co Junior.Senior. events. A series of leisurely bi-monthly Saturday morning brunch events for creative women in Belfast. Where over coffee, fruit and pastries within an intimate setting two local creative women will share the stories of their creative journeys. Each event will feature an established self-employed creative woman complimented by a young emerging creative starting out on their creative journey. Each speaker will tell the story of their creative journey so far and share honestly the challenges and opportunities they face. Giving different perspectives on the different stages of the creative journey.

These events are all about sharing knowledge and skills within the creative community so we can help each other grow. There will also be opportunities for meeting like-minded people, building community and creating new connections and helping champion young emerging designers by giving them the opportunity to share their story to a supportive and encouraging local audience.

Kick starting Saturday 15th June at 11.30am in our Hill Street Studios!

Event Date(s): June 15, 2024

Event Time: 11.30am

Location: Blick Shared Studios, Hill Street, Belfast BT1 2LB

Cost: Donation
Can't wait for this sold out event next week with Paul Boal founder of Clever Ghost sharing his creative story!
Another chance to see our latest roundup of funding, support, opportunities, events, exhibitions and festivals for creatives

FUNDING, SUPPORT & OPPORTUNITIES

- £575,000 Augment the City Challenge Fund
- CIRCE Fellowship Programme 2024
- Beyond Literature Borders – International Work Grant
- Call 2 of the Digital Transformation Flexible Fund (DTFF) is now open for expressions of interest
- InvestNI new £5 million programme has launched to support entrepreneurs and high growth start-ups in Northern Ireland.
- InnovateUK Smart Grants: Up to £1M
- Catalyst Stryve Programme
- Invent Awards
- Creative Lunch Club
- The National Lottery Support for Individual Artists Programme – Travel Awards – rolling programme
- Digital Arts Studios XR Research & Development Lab
- Craft NI Garden Show Ireland Craft Village Call Out
- Women in Business and Techstart Female Founders Grant
- The Content Fund
- National Trust Time and Space Newton Competition
- The SideQuest X Creature Indie VR Fund
- Horizon Europe Pump Priming Programme
- British Council International Collaboration Grants
- Poetry with pride
- Wheelworks Arts I Will Volunteering Programme
- Venice gap-financing market call for projects

EXHIBITIONS

Ringside, an exhibition of drawings and paintings by Sean McGibbon, celebrating Belfast’s boxing culture.
Venue: Ormeau Baths Belfast
Date: 18 Apr at 6pm

Lavery on Location
Venue: Ulster Museum
Dates: 23rd Feb -  9th Jun

EVENTS

Go Succeed business events

AI and the Future of Live Experience
Date and time: 10 Apr, 3pm - 5pm
Location: online 

How to produce a kick ass application
Date and time: 10 Apr, 11 am - 12:30 pm
Location: Online

XR Network+ online seminar: Sound Design in Virtual Production
Date and time: Wed, 17 Apr 2024 14:00 - 15:15 BST
Location: Online
Pop Up Gallery Belfast

Dates and times: Sat 20th and Sun 28th Apr, 11am to 3pm
Location: Black Box Belfast

East Block Bazaar
Date and time: Sun 28th April 1pm to 5pm
Location: Banana Block

FESTIVALS

Foyle Film Festival 2024 – Reel Lives
10 to 27 Apr

Hit the north
20th - 30th April

The 24th Cathedral Quarter Arts Festival
2 to 12 May

You can read the full listings including links on our blog
A quick recap of the month of March at Blick!

- After a couple of years break, we gave ourselves a deadline and finally got our act together and re-launched our Womenfolk project (www.womenfolk.co) for creative women on International Women’s Day

- Including doing a call out for creative women business owners to feature on our Womenfolk platform (www.womenfolk.co)

- And inviting new members to join our ongoing Womenfolk Peer Mentoring group which meets on the last Tuesday of every month

- We welcomed new residents Horrible Brands to join our Cotton Court studios

- We completed an application for an exciting international project and connected with an international partner for another exciting project we hope to apply for this month

- We published the third exercise on creative and business values on our new resources for creatives section on our website https://blickstudios.org/resources/11802/

Looking back at what you have achieved in the past month is a great exercise in itself, to remind you that things are moving forwards and you are making progress even if it doesn’t always feel like it!
It's almost the weekend and a long one and it's stopped raining! Happy Easter 🐣 🐰
Did you know that we also offer virtual office services for creatives?

Our virtual office services is an affordable business address service for creatives giving you access to a commercial business address, for a professional image and keeping your home address private.

Whether you are just starting out and can’t yet afford workspace or are happy to work from home but seeking a professional public image for your business.

With our virtual office service you can use our City Centre Cathedral Quarter address 46 Hill Street, BT1 2LB for your creative business for only £22.50 per month (paid quarterly) or £200 per year.

We have a small team ensuring you get a friendly, personal and professional service and as a local social enterprise it means your money goes back into the local economy and to support the creative industries in Northern Ireland.

Have a look at our website for more info and to read our FAQs (link in profile) or email christine@blickstudios.org for more info
Our beautiful chandelier in our Malone studios as it changes through the seasons
Sunny Friday vibes in between the showers in our Malone studios this afternoon!
This month's new exercise on our website for anyone starting a new creative business is all about working out your personal and business values to help you define and develop your creative idea.

I first did a similar exercise to this when setting up Blick on a NESTA creative enterprise course way back in 2007 and it has been invaluable in helping me to make decisions and plans since and is really worth spending time on when starting out.

You can download the exercise as a PDF or word document on the creative resources section of our website (link in bio)

#blickcreativeresources #blickstudios #creativebusinessresources
#businessvalues
#personalvalues
Our next Blick Academy Creative Talk on Wed 17th April is by local designer and creative company founder Paul Boal!

Paul Boal is the Founder of Clever Ghost @‌thatcleverghost a brand and design studio based in Holywood, Northern Ireland. Founded in 2018 with a mission to influence positive change through clever design.

Paul and his team have created and managed brands across a diverse range of clients around the world from start-ups and SMEs to multinational companies.

His experience spans 14 years in the creative industry. To date, he has worked with clients including Cowen, the Irish Football Association, Queen’s University, Qualcom and evian in developing their brands and engaging with their audiences over numerous projects. Before founding Clever Ghost in 2018, Paul cut his teeth in various in-house design jobs. Eventually, he freelanced his way into several small design studios, overseeing the design team at a leading packaging company and working as a part-time lecturer in Creative Media.

Paul is one of our past creative residents at Blick and has done such an amazing job growing his business over the past few years, we are really excited to hear his story on how he started and has grown his creative business and his plans for the future.

You can find out more about Paul on his website: https://cleverghost.studio/ and instagram: @‌thatcleverghost

EVENT DETAILS

Date: Wednesday 17th April

Time: 7 - 8pm

Location: Blick Hill Street

Cost: Free

For more info and to book your ticket, visit the events page of our website (link in bio)
After a bit of a break following the pandemic, we are delighted this International Women's Day to bring back our @womenfolk.co project for creative women. New events and opportunities coming soon!

https://www.womenfolk.co/
Tired of working from home? We have just this one lovely desk available in our Hill St studios for £165 per calendar month all inclusive 

Send us a DM or email christine@blickstudios.org for more information or to arrange a viewing or visit the Hill St workspace page on our website (link in profile)
Feels like spring on Hill St today. Blue skies, 🌞 queues for🍦and 🚲 

#cathedralquarterbelfast #cathedralquarter
Our second Blick Academy Creative Talk of 2024 with a local creative sharing their creative story is coming up on Wed 17th April at 7pm. Speaker details coming soon...

Booking details on our website 

#eventsforcreatives
#creativebusiness
#creativeinspiration #nicreatives ##creativesupport
As we move into a new month and new season, here's a quick recap of February for us here at Blick and the new resources on our website for creatives starting out in NI.

Following her amazing creative talk for us at the start of Feb we have the following blogs on our website

An Interview with Alana McDowell - https://blickstudios.org/blog/an-interview-with-multidisciplinary-designer-alana-mcdowell/

Alana McDowell Creative Talk What I Learnt - https://blickstudios.org/blog/11749/

We also have our latest Creative Roundup featuring events, funding & support for creatives - https://blickstudios.org/blog/creative-roundup/

And our second exercise ‘Getting to Know Your Creative Idea’ for new creative businesses available to download as a word document or pdf - https://blickstudios.org/resources/developing-and-defining-your-creative-idea-getting-to-know-your-creative-idea/

We are currently planning more workshops & talks for creatives.

What would you like to learn? What do you need help with? Or who would you like to hear talk?

Let us know and we will do our best to make it happen

Links all in our bio