The Network for Creative Enterprise (NfCE) was established in October 2017 to help freelancers, artists, creative practitioners, start-up microbusinesses, and small to medium enterprises (SMEs) in the West of England LEP area make a sustainable living from their creative ideas.

Between October 2017 and June 2019, we offered free workspace, skills development workshops, bespoke business support, small bursaries, one-to-one mentoring, showcasing opportunities and other resources to creatives looking to grow
or start their business.

Our approach has been to understand the West of England’s creative sector as a rich ecology of diverse practices and ambitions, which, with the right kind of flexible support at the right time, can thrive in ways that are sustainable, impactful and meaningful to our participants and our stakeholders.

The programme was led by Watershed, a digital creativity centre in Bristol. Watershed hosts the Pervasive Media Studio, home to a community of
over 150 artists, creative companies, technologists and academics exploring creative, commercial and cultural opportunities offered by new technologies. This report describes what we did, how we did it, and what we found out.