The end of an inspiring month of Idea to Reality masterclasses

Led by Kate Scanlan and a stellar line-up of inspirational guest speakers, the Idea to Reality Masterclasses were designed to give participants the toolkit to launch their creative enterprises. The participants’ ideas were as varied as theatre productions to raise awareness of mental health issues, workshops to help people work through trauma and a dance listing website.

The classes focused on 4 main themes.
1. What motivates the participants and developing the USP of their idea.
2. Financial management and identifying potential sources of income, giving the participants the tools to look beyond traditional funding routes for the arts to explore new and innovative business models.
3. Equipping the participants with the knowledge to build successful partnerships within the industry.
4. How to pull everything together to make a pitch, fundraise or to launch their projects, which involved a lot of practice pitching!

Alongside the masterclasses, participants benefitted from one-to-one coaching to help refine their business models and action plans.

Roxy Bryant who joined the masterclass programme to help launch her idea of choreography workshops that educate young people said the classes have made her:
“100% better than I was. I’ve gained a lot of new tools, but I have also realised how much I need to do!”

Anna Buonomo who is creating a series of workshops for older people to promote a healthier life style says the classes have:
“Built my confidence and prepared me for approaching partners and for pitching. I have a positive sense now of how to identify the needs of customers and I’m able to think from a business point of view as well as an artistic one.”

East London Dance will be offering a Dance Enterprise Ideas Fund to help support creative dance ideas and projects come to fruition. This will be a great opportunity for the participants of these masterclasses to put their learning into practice and pitch for investment to further support the realisation of their idea.

The Idea to Reality Masterclasses were delivered as part of the Dance Enterprise HubSign up to the Dance Enterprise Hub monthly eNewsletter to be the first to hear about similar opportunities.