Essential Professional Development for Creative People
Download the full PDF press release here
A unique series of events for artists and creative businesses will take place in Portsmouth this summer. The Future Skills Festival will explore how new media and technologies are creating new opportunities and new ways of working in the creative and cultural industries.
The Festival will mark the fifth anniversary of the Cibas project in Portsmouth. It will also celebrate the launch of a brand-new Cibas website - a content-rich resource for the creative community that will offer enterprising advice, ideas and inspiration to support the growing creative and cultural industries in the City and beyond.
Since 2006, Cibas has helped more than 600 artists and creative businesses with one-to-one advice and guidance. In the same period, more than 1,500 individuals have attended Cibas training, networking and continuing professional development events.
The Future Skills Festival will bring together some of the UK’s leading experts in creative careers and business development. The Festival’s flagship ‘Question Time’ inspired launch event (20 June) will feature very a special guest panel to include John Newbigin, the Chair of the newly formed national network, Creative England. Formerly Head of Corporate Relations at Channel 4 and a special advisor to the government, Wired Magazine lists John as ‘one of the UK’s top 100 digital power-brokers’.
A programme of seminars, workshops and talks will take an in-depth look at subjects such as blogging and social media; protecting Intellectual Property (IP) online; time management and work flow; and building a toolkit of digital media and resources to support the development of a successful and rewarding creative career.
Contributors include Alison Baverstock, author and resident blogger for the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook; Yemisi Blake, Creative Mentor at the Southbank Centre and Associate Artist with All Change; Mark McGuinness of blogs Wishful Thinking, Lateral Action and a regular contributor to The 99%; Sinead Mac Manus, digital wellbeing consultant and Founder of 8fold; James Byford, consultant, producer and freelance-freeranger; and Silvia Baumgart, Project Coordinator for Own It, the Intellectual Property service based at the University of the Arts London.
Director of Cibas, Paola Campari-Moss is one of the Festival organisers: “New digital and media technologies are changing the way that creative people are starting-up and growing successful careers and businesses. The artists, designers, performers and writers of the future won’t have to rely on traditional business models or established routes-to-market such as the agent, the publisher, the record label or gallery. Instead, they will adapt their creativity and broaden their skills to exploit new technologies, apps, media and resources both to promote and to create their work.”
The Future Skills Festival will provide a unique platform for inspiring ideas and expert advice about the knowledge and skills that will drive the creative communities of the future.
Who should attend the Future Skills Festival?
These events are designed specifically for creative people including artists, designers, performers, writers, creative businesses and companies and other professional people working in the arts, culture and creative industries.
What are the aims of the Future Skills Festival?
The events are intended to provide professional - and aspiring-professional - creative practitioners and businesses with an enhanced understanding of some of the critical considerations involved in successful self-employment or enterprise in the creative industries.
What are the objectives of the Future Skills Festival?
The objective of each of the events is to provide participants with: access to industry experts; enhanced specialist knowledge; new practical skills; action plans and ways forward; and professional networking opportunities.
The highly subsidised fee for each event includes all course materials and refreshments. Numbers are strictly limited. Booking and payment in advance is essential. For further information email cibas@port.ac.uk or telephone 023 9284 6232.
