Seventeen innovative projects from across Wales have been awarded up to £125,000 each as part of the Creative Skills Fund, Minister Jack Sargeant has announced.
The Creative Skills Fund, now in its second round, aims to nurture new and existing talent by training and upskilling individuals across several creative sectors, including screen, music, immersive tech, animation and games.
The first round, which opened in 2022, has already benefitted over 27,000 people with almost 500 training courses and 435 upskilling placements provided.
Some of the award recipients announced include:
- Creative Sparc by Menai Science Park – a cross-sector project delivering four different strands, including working with 250 primary school children to integrate creative industries into the curriculum and employing recent graduates in specific key creative sectors in north Wales.
- Animeiddio by Media Academy Cymru – development of two new BTEC courses focussing on 2D, 3D and stop motion animation.
- A new game plan for Wales, by Esports Wales – Esports Wales plan to extend their academy program to cover the whole of Wales and offer taster sessions, networking and career events.
- Post-production stepping stones, by Gorilla Academy – a programme designed to deliver post-production courses in Welsh language, helping to address the recognised shortage in Welsh-language editing skills.
- Anthem Gateway, by Anthem Music Fund Wales – a website for aspiring young musicians and young creatives who are looking for a pathway into the music industry in Wales, it will now upscale and produce regular, engaging content to grow its reach and audience.
Hijinx, one of Europe’s leading inclusive theatre companies, received support as part of the previous round of the fund to deliver ReFocus (learning disability inclusion training for the screen industry) sessions, and has been successful in securing fund in this latest round too.
As part of their work, they have established Creative Enablers training sessions which train people to assist and empower deaf, blind, disabled and / or neurodivergent artists to be creative at a professional level.
For further information please select the following link: Nurturing skills and talent for a Creative Wales | GOV.WALES