South East secures Create Growth funding

West Sussex County Council, bidding as part of a South East consortium, has secured funding from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport(DCMS) to deliver the Create Growth programme in its region.

The programme will support high-growth potential businesses in the creative industries to grow by developing knowledge and skills to access private sector investment.  Additional grant funding provided nationally will be available to creative businesses in West Sussex.

West Sussex County Council is part of the successful Create Growth South East consortium alongside Brighton & Hove City Council, East Sussex CountyCouncil, Kent County Council, Essex County Council, Medway Council and ThurrockCouncil. The partnership also includes sector leads Wired Sussex, ScreenSouth and Creative UK.

The consortium has been awarded funding of £1.275m to deliver business support over three years.  An additional £7m has been allocated by DCMS to Innovate UK, to deliver finance to small creative businesses as part of the same programme.

Businesses that will be eligible for support under the programme in the South East will come from one of the following sub-sectors:

‍
• Film, TV, video, radio and photography
• Design and designer fashion
• Music, performing and visual arts
• IT, software and computer services
‍
Paul Marshall, Leader of West Sussex County Council, said: “This is really exciting news for creative businesses in West Sussex.  The funding award by DCMS recognises the fantastic potential of these businesses in our region and provides an opportunity to support them to realise that potential and achieve growth for them, and our local economy.”
‍

The programme will launch in January 2023, and the funding must be spent by March 2025.   Access to the programme is likely to close in October 2024 when the final cohort of businesses will be recruited.
‍

If you would like to register your interest please contact: info@createsoutheast.org.uk.

‍