Foundry658 to offer $20,000 seed funding to creative entrepreneurs

A new business development program, Foundry658, has been launched in Victoria to help creative entrepreneurs and organisations develop start-ups.

Ten Victorian individuals or teams will be offered seed funding of $20,000 as part of Foundry658’s ‘accelerator’ program, with no caveats on how the funding can be spent. The accelerator is an intensive, 12-week skills-building program that offers advice, networking opportunities and business support for the 10 selected projects alongside the funding.

The program is led by State Library Victoria (SLV) and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), with support from the Victorian state government, and is open to artists from any field, including publishing, media, theatre, film and television, visual arts, fashion, digital games and design.

The program also includes free business development initiatives, including ‘roadshow’ sessions across Victoria, and ‘bootcamp’ sessions to help participants develop proposed business projects.

Anna Burkey, the manager of SLV’s entrepreneur hub StartSpace (due to open next year), told Fairfax that the program is open to emerging or established artists. ‘We’re really interested in supporting artists who want to look at alternative business models, different ways to potentially bring in funding for their work,’ said Burkey.

The program will commence in July, and will run twice over two years. See more details here.

Category: Local news