Cultural Industries Development Agency (CIDA)Supporting
Cultural and Creative Industries in East London

What CIDA offers || Operational objectives || What CIDA can do for you || Contact || CIDA's Activities || Board || Leaside Creative Industries Initiative Project || Mailing News CIDA Customer Service Guarantee

Introduction to CIDA
CIDA - The Cultural Industries Development Agency is a specialist business advice organisation which facilitates the development of the creative and cultural industries in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham and East London.

Our Mission
Cultural Industries Development Agency (CIDA) specialises in delivering creative and cultural industry business and marketing support, information and signposting services, networking, supply chain, and cluster development, and related services locally and sub-regionally. We seek to facilitate the growth of a culturally diverse sustainable creative industries sector through targeted sub-sector initiatives, contributing to policy and planning development and regeneration, creating opportunities for creative industries to flourish through economic, social, environmental and cultural activity, tourism and the visitor economy, and through ICT, learning, skills and education

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What does CIDA offer

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CIDA's Operational objectives

• To deliver business support services
  
• To deliver marketing support services
  
• To provide an information service
  
• To engage in initiatives that build networks, supply chains and cluster
• To provide advocacy and support policy development
  
• To facilitate education, training and skills opportunities
  
• To create opportunities in E-commerce and new media
  
• To support capacity building, inward investment and fund-raising activities of our clients
  
• To deliver a creative industries small grants programme
  
• To undertake targeted development work
  
• To promote social inclusion in the creative and cultural industries.
  

What can CIDA do for you
Contact us on 020 7247 4710 or email Dilly Begum on [email protected] or write to us at CIDA, Business Development Centre, 7-15 Greatorex Street London E1 5NF. You can also contact us through our website www.cida.co.uk.

You will need to register as a client, and once you have completed a simple registration form we can provide:

• one to one business and project development sessions with our experienced creative industries advisers
  
  
• a subsidised monthly mailing service to over 2200 East London and London-wide contacts in the creative industries
  
  
• marketing support to publicise your business or event
  
  
• help with funding or loan applications and project and business planning
  
  
• posting your event, information or advertising your business on our weekly updated website www.cida.co.uk
  
  
• tailored searches of CIDA Contacts, our database of creative industries in Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Newham and East London
  
  

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Who to contact at CIDA
Patricia van den Akker: Creative Industries Business Adviser
Contact Patricia if you would like business advice and support on strategic skills, business plans and marketing strategies. Patricia can help you to identify local, regional, national and international opportunities to develop your business, develop your customer base, identify funding and finance, and build your network of local contacts. [email protected]

Francesco Anderlini: Cultural Tourism Co-ordinator
Francesco is a graduate of the Politecnico di Milano, and majored in the development of strategies to promote cultural businesses in the context of regeneration. He brings experience of both theoretical and practical implementation of tourism promotion strategies to CIDA and is responsible for the development of CIDA’s work in the Cultural Tourism sector. [email protected]

Dilly Begum: Information and Administration Co-ordinator
Contact Dilly to make appointments to see any member of CIDA’s team, to access CIDA’s library and resources, or have any general enquiries about our services. Also send Dilly any information on your business, organisation or activities that you would like to put onto to CIDA’s website. [email protected]

Fahmida Begum: Contract Manager
Fahmida monitors the performance of all of CIDA’s projects and work with our clients. As well as ensuring CIDA continues to provide a quality service to our clients, she ensures that all monitoring requirements of our funders are complied with. Fahmida also works closely with our advisors on projects and supports clients and delivery partners managing or monitoring European, regeneration or publicly funded projects [email protected]

Tanya Coles: Information and Administration Support Officer
Contact Tanya to make appointments to see any member of CIDA's team, to access CIDA's library and resources, or have any general queries. [email protected]

Terence Dimmick: Client Services Consultant
Contact Terence if you are an individual interested in developing your career, a voluntary sector creative industries organisation looking to build your organisation in the following sectors: design, fashion design, performing arts, music, new media (film, radio, internet broadcasting and graphic design), and community arts. [email protected]

Tom Fleming: Creative Industries Development Officer
Contact Tom if you are a new or existing business in the following sectors: design, fashion design, new media (internet broadcasting and graphic design), and visual arts. Tom can help you to identify local, regional, national and international opportunities to develop your business, develop your customer base and network of local contacts [email protected]

Adam Holmes Davies: Training and Skills Adviser
Contact Adam if you are interested in developing a career in the creative industries, finding out more about training opportunities in your area, or developing training projects. Adam manages CIDA’s European Social Funded training programmes [email protected]

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CIDA's Activities
CIDA has supported over 2000 clients since it began in October 1999, has supervised, managed or participated in over 200 projects, and instigated new networks and promotions for its clients.

CIDA acknowledges the financial assistance of London Borough of Tower Hamlets, LB Hackney, Cityside Regeneration, City Fringe Partnership, Leaside Regeneration, European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund, London Arts, and the Arts Council of England. CIDA has established a role as the lead organisation and intermediary for the cultural and creative industries in East London

1. Business support
CIDA’s core work is the regular provision of business advice to our growing client base. CIDA provides bespoke business support to over 300 clients each year. Our clients come from all sectors including fashion, design, music, dance, performing arts, visual arts, film and new media, broadcasting, digital media, festivals and events among others. We have developed specific support services for BME, women and under-represented groups and specific programmes for clients based in Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham. CIDA is supporting an increasingly diverse client base whose needs are many and varied.

Our business support includes helping you to establish your aspirations and vision for your company or project and an analysis of your needs. We then help you to identify what strategies you need to adopt and an action plan to take your plans forward. We can help you to clarify the assumptions, constraints and opportunities that will drive your plan, help you to sell the idea or project and support you to raise the finance you might require. We guarantee confidentiality and aim to provide a supportive, understanding and friendly service.

2. Marketing support
CIDA provides a monthly mailing service to support the marketing of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Newham based creative industries. At very reasonable rates you can reach over 2200 individuals and organisations in East London and London wide.

CIDA also provides marketing support to clients, can provide guidance on the development of marketing strategies and use of marketing materials. CIDA has supported clients to network and sell themselves more effectively to potential suppliers, funders, customers and buyers through the production of business cards and letterheads, and helped clients to lever in marketing and promotion support from local funding sources.

CIDA also promotes its own programme of events which showcase creative industries businesses in the area.

Support for openings/launch showcases have included Isidro Ramirez (photographer), Phil Maxwell, Jackie Remfry, THEN (Century Gallery), Vital Arts (Royal London Hospital), Crossovers (Whitechapel), Abu Jaffar, Rai Fashion Showcasing Project, Lucy Swift, East London Design Show, Just Mariot, Switch, Javia Denton Lingerie. Marketing support for festivals support includes the Berner Festival, Raindance, Filmi Fundus, and Bangladesh Film Festival. CIDA’s participation in the Rich Mix Launch offered CIDA’s clients the opportunity to showcase their work in front of over 700 invited guests

3. Information Service
CIDA has developed a comprehensive resource base including training, fund-raising and sector specific information, magazines, e-zines and funding/business books and journals. Our website acts as a portal for creative activity in East London, and by going onto www.cida.co.uk you can identify funding, training, networking and business support opportunities. We make sure that the latest news is always on www.cida.co.uk and continually review the site improving the quality of information to better serve the needs of the sector.

4. Network, supply chain and cluster development
CIDA has developed a programme of activities to promote sector specific and cross sector supply chain and network development. These include Creative Links, our annual creative industries trade fair for Tower Hamlets and East London. It was first held in 2000 in the Rich Mix building and is now held at the Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane.

In 2002 NEMI funding supported ‘Design East End’ offering financial support to fashion designers and designer makers to promote and sell their work in local covered markets including Spitalfields Market.

As part of the Leaside Creative Industries Initiative and the development of an Arts and Creative Industries Strategy for the area, in 2002/03 CIDA delivered a series of quarterly networking events for arts organisations and creative businesses in the Leaside SRB6 area, connecting businesses to key creative centres including the Museum in Docklands, Trinity Buoy Wharf and Limehouse Town Hall.

Our local knowledge helps to put you in touch with other businesses who could help you to develop your project or idea.

5. Advocacy and policy development
CIDA’s involvement in advocacy and promotion at a local, sub-regional, regional, national and international level is now a regular feature of our work. As CIDA is still the only independent cross-sector creative industries agency in London we are engaged in many activities where our partnership role is valued and our views are sought. We are active in the Thames Gateway London Partnership Creative Industries Task Group and the Three Mills Stakeholder Group, and seek to promote the needs of our clients and the sector to funders and policy makers, Government Departments and agencies including the DCMS and the Treasury, Business Link for London, Trade Partners UK, and the London Development Agency – the regional development agency for London. CIDA is invited to speak at national and international conferences and participate in local discussions and seminars

6. Education, training and skills
Between 2001 and 2002 CIDA successfully delivered two ESF programmes ‘Creative Links’ and ‘Tower Hamlets Creative Industries Network’ - which enabled Antersite, Summer University, Insight Arts, Magic Me, Four Corners, Arts Admin, Summer Education, Bow Arts, Space Studios and Tawakal to deliver carefully targeted training programmes to adults, creative businesses, and young people in Tower Hamlets. A new programme ‘Creative Network Partnership’ is due to start in 2003 which will offer higher skills and workforce development training programmes. We seek to develop new projects and programmes to deliver targeted training support to those in most need from ethnic minority groups, women, the disabled, refugees and asylum seekers.

As part of the Creative Links ESF project CIDA ran two events - Creative Links // Live (13th December 2001) at the Rhythm Factory and Creative Links // Expo (28th March 2002) at the Old Truman Brewery. This latter event was opened by Jim Fitzpatrick MP and attended by an estimated 450 individuals and businesses who were able to profile their products and services and attend a day-long programme of seminars.

CIDA also sits on the steering group for the development of a new Thames Gateway Creative Skills Partnership, which will act as a sub-regional intermediary body developing the provision of skills and training for the creative industries in East London.

7. E-commerce and new media
CIDA has provided specific support and advice to publishing companies such as Fairkey Designs, the Digital Guild and Mute/Metamute, and helped signpost our client base to local printers and designers using the Spitalfields Print and Design Network, who we are also supporting in the development of their press strategy. We also provided project management and ICT support for training and intermediary businesses such as Antersite and Disorder, and clients such as Stuart Chubb, Raj Ali, Blustin Design and Print, AVCO, and Young News. We are Project Managers for the London Fashion Online initiative - an online business to business marketing support project funded by the LDA and City Fringe Partnership, which is being delivered by Electronic Market Squares.

8. Inward investment and fund-raising
CIDA’s advisers can offer targeted fundraising advice to individuals, companies and organisations, support to prepare funding bids and applications to raise finance, and access to our funding resource of directories and interactive CD-Roms of funding and sponsorship opportunities. CIDA is also a member of the Arts & Business Development Forum, and has good links with trusts and foundations and training providers such as the Directory of Social Change, The Peabody Trust and the Princes Trust. If you have worked with us as a client we can act as a referee for your funding or finance application and support you to manage your grant or loan.

9. Small grant programme to support entrepreneurship, business retention and expansion:
Small Capital Equipment Grants Programme.
This programme ended in 31st March 2002. CIDA delivered 71 grants through the Small Capital Grants Programme to a value of £176,000 funded through local Planning Gain. Recipients included: Moss Brothers Metal Design, Pigment Explosion, Bricke Room Café/Gallery, Warped, AVCO, D-Art 2000, Station House Opera, Rapid Eye Movies, Phillips Interiors, Samuel Ransford, Pearly Oyster Productions, Columbia Glassworks, Spitalfields Festival, Broomhill Opera, International Arts Consultants, Friends of Stitches in Time, Franco B, Kumiko Shimizu, Alma Home, Chisenhale Dance Space, Mossada Centre for Single Women, Selma de Maragaly, Hyphen Design, DV8, Lisa Kohli, Govinda/Hempel/Singh Productions, Artslab, Centre for Creative Communities, Robert John Highton, Louise Morgan, Just Mariot, Ivory Rose, Insight Arts, Ragged School Museum, African Women’s Welfare Association, Helen Robertson, Alvoi, Fairkey Design, Janet Brooke, Pyramid Event Management, Ultra Marine, Arts Initiatives, Ex-Voto, Artsadmin, Shane O’ Sullivan, Tractor Films, Kitchy Suze, Antersite, Jeharlal Sen, Primal Pictures, Megan Frazer, Chloe Scrivener Designs, Marie Valognes, Shakti Ellenwood, Kerry Murphy, Dragana Perisic, Shunt Events, Stuart Chubb, M2C, Mrs Jones, On the One, Sacha Bradbury, Parasite Studio, Charlotte Kohl, Melody Holiday.

Creative Investment Fund. This fund ran from December 2001 to March 2002. 43 grants were provided to a value of £50,000. The Fund was sourced from Cityside Connecting Communities SRB5 programme. Recipients included: @work Ltd, Alokpath, Alte, Arts for All, Betar Bangla, Blustin Heath, Claire Littleton, Comfort Station, Creative Enterprise Network, Deborah Smith, Diapo, Digitile, E.A. Sakpere, Fernando Arias, Jane Runchman, Jenny Rose, K Dimension, Kate Storer, La Petite Salope, Lucy Francis, Mahalia Mainur, Marie Loney, Mohammed Fakruzzaman, Mukul Patel, Nomad Picture Library, Ofra Shelef, Pasha Razza, People Show, Phil Maxwell, Rachel Silver, Rita Osei, Safe Studios, Sarah Station, Sidecar, Skyscraper Digital Publishing, State of the Art, Sue Brown, Sultan Ahmed, Temple Arts Group, The Film Company, Very Garcia, Yvonne Gregory.

10. Targeted development work within sub-sectors and strategic creative industries projects:

Workspace
With support from the Arts Council of England, CIDA is facilitating and producing ‘Creating Places - a national conference profiling the role of studio and workspace provision in regeneration. It will take place on Tuesday 8th July 2003 at Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1 9TG. The conference is directed at decision makers in regeneration and studio provision and creative and business clusters and will profile the opportunities and challenges faced by those developing studio and workspace provision in regeneration areas around the UK.

CIDA’s other work in this field has included support for Team Pictures to undertake a Feasibility Study for a new Film and New Media Centre for Tower Hamlets (in a study funded by Leaside Regeneration and the LDA) and support for Four Corners and Camerawork to ensure that the capital asset owned by Camerawork/Arts Council of England on Bethnal Green Road continues to operate as a focus for film and still image community based exhibition and training. CIDA is also supporting Artsadmin in the capital redevelopment of its building off Commercial Street – a c.£2.5m scheme funded by the Arts Council Lottery, the retention of workspace/artists studio space in the Godsons Brewery (Chisenhale), and the development of new workspace in the borough including Cityside Regeneration’s Winkley Workspace. CIDA has also been supporting the tenants of Limehouse Town Hall to secure the future of the building as an arts and creative industries workspace resource for the borough and Leaside.

Public Art and Visual Arts
Public Art plays an important role in the regeneration of areas. CIDA supports public arts projects, and is currently supporting the commissioning of a new work for Redrow Homes’ development in the Isle of Dogs. CIDA profiled the borough’s reputation in the Public Art sphere at our Networking Event in Leaside in September 2002 and included the work of Martin Richman (part of the Canary Wharf Public Art programme), Meslan and Mehra (part of the new Langdon Park DLR design), the work of Freeform Arts and Art.e @ The Art of Change.

CIDA also hosted a Local Affairs Seminar for the Whitechapel Art Gallery in October 2002 looking at opportunities and barriers for artists in East London.

Cultural Tourism
CIDA is developing a new joint promotional cultural tourism initiative facilitating a partnership of strategic arts, heritage and cultural venues in Tower Hamlets. To assist this process we are compiling available existing market research and creating a more in-depth profile of existing visitors to cultural destinations in the borough to identify opportunities for project development. This work has been funded by London Arts

Festivals and Events
Much of our focus in this area has centred upon the development of BME-led community enterprises and BME/community led festivals and events (including the Baishaki Mela, Berner Festival, Brick Lane Festival, Black History Month, Crossovers, and Bangladesh Film Festival). We sit on the steering group for key Tower Hamlets festivals and can advise clients on the development of specific festivals and events. CIDA works closely with LBTH Events officer to support the promotion of local festivals and outdoor events.

Music
CIDA is delivering a targeted Music Business Support project in Hackney in spring 2003 providing business planning and fundraising advice to professional and semi professionals working in the music business. We support music development in the boroughs of Hackney, Tower Hamlets and Newham through providing our business services and complementing the work of specialist providers such as the Ocean, Adfed, Access to Music, CM, HMDT, The Bass Centre, Spitalfields Festival, COMA, The Premises, Atum, Commedia, Maximum Music and music businesses and links to mainstream resources such as the BBC, Hollis Music Showcase Guide, the MusicTank and others.

Film
Through our partnership with LBTH Arts Leisure Services in 2001 CIDA was very pleased to host the Tower Hamlets Film Officer. As well as developing a client focused approach to business support in the film sector, the Film Officer was able to produce the East London Film Festival in association with CIDA. This festival is now produced in association with Raindance East. The Film Officer also ran the Tower Hamlets Film Fund (recipients included Jeharlal Sen, Sanchita Islam, Primal Pictures and Megan Frazier), whilst at CIDA. We continue to support film development with close links to ELMII – the East London Moving Image Initiative.

Fashion and Designer Makers
CIDA has also carried out specific research work in the context of sub-sector and area based regeneration. For Sew East/Bringing Design Into Manufacturing we complied a database of Fashion Designers, CMT’s and Manufacturers in Tower Hamlets on behalf of the Ethnic Minority Enterprise Project; and on behalf of Mazorka we managed research into the barriers faced by women from ethnic minorities to access support and develop businesses as designer-makers. We continue with work closely with Sew East (EMEP) and Mazorca’s Hidden Art programme and support project delivery including Electronic Market Square’s London Fashion Online. CIDA is also supporting the development of two workspace feasibility studies being commissioned by City Fringe Partnership – one for Fashion, the other for Furniture and building links with the London Fashion Forum.

11. Social inclusion
At the heart of CIDA’s work is our Equal Opportunities Policy and our belief in ensuring that barriers are lifted to participation, acquisition of new skills and opportunities for employment among marginalized communities.

We have developed a team of business advisers that have skills in working with clients from a range of backgrounds and with a range of needs.

We have been successful in levering in ERDF funds to run the Creative BME Businesses in the Community Project – a project that will run to December 2003 and capacity-build the Creative Enterprise Network whilst developing the business practice, project delivery, sustainability and capacity of CEN’s members which include Admontage, Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, Udichi School of Performing Arts, Eastside Arts, Rainbow Film Society, Young News, Cinemaya, Atum Community Music, Artsworld, and Mela Productions.

CIDA’s on going support for Rich Mix Cultural Foundation is also based on our commitment to developing opportunities for social inclusion and young people to engage in the creative industries.

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CIDA's Board
CIDA is a company limited by guarantee Registered Company Number 3878287

CIDA’s board of directors play an important role in the governance of the organisation, ensure that CIDA’s policies reflect the needs of the cultural and creative industries sector, and take a lead in the promotion and advocacy of CIDA as the lead agency in the area promoting and advocating for the cultural and cultural industries.
Current CIDA Directors are:

Councillor Ataur Rahman (Chair) - Elected Tower Hamlets Council Member for St Dunstans and Stepney Green, Cabinet Member and Lead Member for Arts & Leisure

Frances Corner - Head of Art, Media & Design, London Metropolitan University

Ella Doran - Managing Director of her own company, Ella Doran Designs internationally renowned for its distinctive range of tabletop accessories

Jill Johnston - Qualified barrister and Associate at legal firm Allen & Ovary

Saeed Khalique - Managing Director of Alma Home, leading UK leather furniture designer and manufacturer

Murude Leong - Bromley by Bow Centre based ceramic artist, specialising in arts in health and health education

Councillor Ashton McGregor Elected Tower Hamlets Council Member for Limehouse

Golam Mostafa - Representative of the Bengali Cultural Forum

Eric Reynolds - Founding director of Urban Space Management, currently managing and developing Trinity Buoy Wharf in the East of Tower Hamlets. He is also the Chairman of Leaside Regeneration

Carol Ryall - Director of Planning Aid for London, a London wide agency providing advice and support on planning issues

Mark Taylor - Formerly local councillor, runs own Hackney Cab and campaigns on transport issues.

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