Developing a resilience framework and toolkit for UK creative micro-businesses as a route to recovery from the Covid 19 pandemic.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of the West of England
Department Name: Fac of Arts Creative Ind and Education
Abstract
A 2020 survey of creative and cultural organisations across the South West of England, led by Dr. Tarek Virani and funded by the AHRC's Bristol and Bath Creative R + D Clusters programme, showed that between 18% and 22% of organisations were either not affected by, or became more productive than prior to, the pandemic. Further analysis shows a number of shared characteristics across these respondents.
The aim of the proposed research is to ask what resilience, and subsequent recovery and rebuilding, might look like for the UK's creative economy. By testing the accuracy of the survey findings across the UK, we will design as well as assess the efficacy of a resilience framework and toolkit for creative micro-businesses (CMBs) across the UK as a way to aid CMBs, policymakers and other stakeholders with respect to sectoral recovery and rebuilding from the Covid 19 crisis.
The aim of the proposed research is to ask what resilience, and subsequent recovery and rebuilding, might look like for the UK's creative economy. By testing the accuracy of the survey findings across the UK, we will design as well as assess the efficacy of a resilience framework and toolkit for creative micro-businesses (CMBs) across the UK as a way to aid CMBs, policymakers and other stakeholders with respect to sectoral recovery and rebuilding from the Covid 19 crisis.
Organisations
- University of the West of England (Lead Research Organisation)
- Arts and Humanities Research Council (Co-funder)
- British Council (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- Creative Edinburgh (Collaboration)
- Greater London Authority (Collaboration)
- Watershed (Collaboration, Project Partner)
- CARDIFF UNIVERSITY (Project Partner)
- Baltic Creative CIC (Project Partner)
- Kaleider Studios (Project Partner)
- Haringey Council (Project Partner)
- Manchester Digital Laboratory (Project Partner)
- Creative Edinburgh Ltd (Project Partner)
- Croydon CEZ Consortium (Project Partner)
- Future Screens NI (Project Partner)
| Description | The project ended in September 2022. The research had two man outputs: (1) a framework to understand resilience for creative micro - businesses in the UK. This framework was developed through primary research using surveys (n=220) and focus groups (n=44) over an 18-month period. It showed that there were 9 markers (originally 8, but an additional was added as a result of the focus groups) for resilience. These are: Level of hybridity (digital, non-digital or hybrid product, service or offer) Online business models to generate partial or substantial revenue Pivoting and re-purposing during the pandemic but also before R & D funding for testing pivoting and re-purposing Collaboration with sectors outside of the creative and cultural economy The use of freelancers Government funding Subsector Production chain management It also developed (2) an on-line digital toolkit that assists creative micro businesses in a number of ways based on the framework above. The Resilience Toolkit is designed for businesses that meet the following criteria: Industry sector: Creative or Cultural Employees: 1-9 Annual turnover: Under £1,000,000 Business status: Registered with Companies House (optional) Primary income stream: Trade or sales The toolkit allows managers, directors, CEO or founders of creative or cultural micro-businesses to: Calculate a resilience score ( based on the markers), Identify specific areas to improve, Receive resources curated for the needs of the user, Track progress over time, and Compare performance with other businesses that us the toolkit. |
| Exploitation Route | The toolkit is now active. Although ti was developed during the pandemic, it has useful elements regarding other exogenous shocks such as economic/financial downturns. Ways that the outcomes can be taken forward are: The toolkit continues to act as a diagnostic tool for creative micro-businesses across the UK, It allows businesses to measure and track progress in a number of areas linked to business resilience, It can be used as a way to speak to business development services once businesses have received their resilience score, Can potentially be adapted for other sectors and organizational types and countries, Policy makers and funders would be able to use it to think through more effective policy measures, Research potential is high as it collects non-identifying data from users, It will be able to sign post businesses to relevant bodies for business support and development and will be updated by the 'community', There is considerable international interest which is positive for future work and other versions of the toolkit. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy |
| URL | https://creativetoolkit.biz/ |
| Description | The project ended in September 2022 - The on-line toolkit has now been developed and is available for use by Creative Micro-Businesses in the UK. The resilience cohort ( 44 creative businesses in the UK in total) have begun to think about and implement the 8 markers of resilience and how they would be able to incorporate them into their business models. The toolkit has 32 active accounts associated with it. There has been international interest in the toolkit - in July the PI ran a resilience workshop with the University of Sao Paulo for Brazilian creative businesses in Sao Paulo where the toolkit was used. 15 businesses, attended as well as policy makers who expressed interest in developing a similar toolkit for the State of Sao Paulo. The PI also ran a similar resilience workshop in Almaty, Kazakhstan with the British Council. There were 26 creative businesses, and again there was significant interest to develop a similar tool for Central Asia. The PI ran a resilience workshop in Bristol with freelancers - who all found the toolkit useful even though it is not designed for freelancers specifically. There was interest in designing a similar toolkit for specifically freelancers. The PI will also run a resilience workshop in London in summer 2023 in all of the 8 creative enterprise zones (CEZ) - which is a flagship Mayor of London initiative, in order to assess whether the enterprise zones contributed to resilience for creative micro businesses in the zones. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2022 |
| Sector | Creative Economy |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Creative Enterprise Zones London |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Impact | The fact that each of the zones showed a semblance of resilience for the creative economy in London in the wake of Covid 19 and Brexit led to the funding of six new zones - and the refunding of the older zones - making a total of 12 zones. |
| URL | https://www.london.gov.uk/media-centre/mayors-press-release/mayor-expands-creative-enterprise-zones-... |
| Description | Influence on practice |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Description | Influence on practice |
| Geographic Reach | Asia |
| Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
| Title | Online Resilience Toolkit for Creative Industries Businesses |
| Description | Resilience Toolkit - https://creativetoolkit.biz/ Toolkit is designed for businesses that meet the following criteria: Industry sector: Creative or Cultural Employees: 1-9 Annual turnover: Under £1,000,000 Business status: Registered with Companies House Primary income stream: Trade or sales ou can use the Resilience Toolkit to: The toolkit allows Creative businesses to Calculate a resilience score Identify specific areas and activities to improve Receive resources curated to their business needs Track progress over time Compare resilience performance with other businesses |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| Impact | Impacts associated with the toolkit include: Interest to use it as an evaluation tool by the Greater London Authority in order to assess the resilience of the Creative Enterprise Zone programme. Workshops are scheduled for summer 2023. Businesses in Sao Paulo Brazil have used the toolkit and find it useful and have changed their business models as a result of using it. July 22nd, 2022. Creative economy Resilience in Brazil. Workshop given in Sao Paulo with University of Sao Paulo. Freelancers in Bristol have used the toolkit which shows its transferability across different organizational typologies. September 20th, 2022. Workshop: Understanding Your Value. Freelancer Fortnight. With Professor Jonathan Dovey. Watershed, Bristol. Creative hubs in Almaty Kazakhstan have used the toolkit and have started to change their business models accordingly. February 22nd - 24th, 2023. Creative Hubs Bootcamp. Almaty Kazakhstan. Counterculture, British Council. As a result there is interest in creating a version for Central Asia creative businesses. |
| URL | https://creativetoolkit.biz/ |
| Title | Survey and Tool |
| Description | A survey was designed in order to use nonparametric testing to develop markers for business resilience which will be translated on to the tool. |
| Type Of Material | Improvements to research infrastructure |
| Year Produced | 2021 |
| Provided To Others? | No |
| Impact | The toolkit will have impact for industry and policy makers by being a diagnostic tool for resilience. It can also be adapted for different sub-sectors, sectors, and organizational types. |
| Description | British Council |
| Organisation | British Council |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | Introducing new research, knowledge and expertise around resilience for creative businesses |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to creative buisness across the UK, expertise around toolkit development |
| Impact | None |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Creative Edinburgh |
| Organisation | Creative Edinburgh |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | Provision of knolwedge and expertise around resilience for creative businesses in Edinburgh |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to a community of businesses in Edinburgh to be part of the resilience cohort |
| Impact | None |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Creative Enterprise Zones evaluation |
| Organisation | Greater London Authority (GLA) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Public |
| PI Contribution | I worked on the evaluation of the Creative Enterprise Zones programme in London led by the GLA. The report that I contributed to highlighted the importance of resilience for creative businesses in the zone. On the back of the report and the resilience piece the zones were refunded in June 2023 with an additional six zones added to the programme. |
| Collaborator Contribution | They funded the research team ( including myself) to undertake the evaluation of the Creative Enterprise Zone programme. |
| Impact | The report can be downloaded here: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/arts-and-culture/space-culture/explore-creative-enterprise-zones/about-creative-enterprise-zones |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Description | Creative Hubs partnership four |
| Organisation | Watershed |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The research team provided knowledge and expertise with regards to resilience for creative businesses in Bristol. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Watershed assisted us with the roll out of the survey and granting access to their community of businesses some of whom are now part of the resilience cohort. |
| Impact | None |
| Start Year | 2021 |
| Title | Resilience Toolkit |
| Description | The resilience toolkit is a purely diagnostic tool developed to help specifically creative micro- businesses in the UK assess their level of resilience as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Disclaimer: This toolkit is not a business development tool although it can assist with certain aspects of business development which relate to resilience. It is purely for diagnostic purposes only and should not be used as a way to build a business but as a guide to gauging what resilience looks like for specifically creative micro-businesses that are being affected by external shocks. Although the tool was designed as a result of Covid 19 we believe that the markers that have been developed represent areas that might be affected by other external ( and some internal ) shocks as well. As such, we hope that the toolkit is a useful guide for creative micro-businesses as they navigate different types of uncertainty. |
| Type Of Technology | Webtool/Application |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Open Source License? | Yes |
| Impact | It is currently being used as a tool in resilience workshops for creative micros being run across the United Kingdom. |
| Description | Creative Hubs Bootcamp. Almaty Kazakhstan. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | February 22nd - 24th, 2023. Creative Hubs Bootcamp. Almaty Kazakhstan. Counterculture, British Council. The PI ran two workshops in Almaty Kazakhstan for creative hubs that used the resilience toolkit. There was significant interest in creating a similar toolkit for Central Asia on the back of the workshops by policy makers, but also by creative practitioners. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |
| Description | Development sessions |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Two virtual development sessions were run with support from project partners in each of the nine research cities across the first 6 months of the project. These sessions are designed to: introduce the research plan, present previous work from the South West study, drum up interest, and introduce the survey with incentive explained. Both sessions aimed to invite CMBs with a secondary aim of survey completion by CMBs who attend. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Final Virtual Workshops |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Final online workshops were held via Zoom with the cohort of 45 CMBs in August and September 2022. In these workshops, the Resilience Toolkit was presented and participants were able to share their views on its usefulness and suggest final changes. These three workshops were held online in August and September 2022. These were offered to all CMB and partner participants who could choose their preferred date rather than meeting by region. Initially, we had planned to run a randomised controlled trial with the cohort of CMBs at this point in the project, asking them to complete a short survey before allocating the Toolkit to a sub-group of the cohort and then asking all CMBs to complete another survey a few months later. This would enable us to measure the impact of using the Toolkit in comparison to the control group who had not used it. However, the RCT became inappropriate as the Toolkit developed. Firstly, it became an online diagnostic tool which, although offering resources to help CMBs work on areas of resilience where they may be weaker, is not a business development tool. Rather, it enables CMBs to consider their activities and business models in relation to resilience, encouraging reflection and the identification of areas which might need further work. Secondly, the process of developing an online diagnostic tool, to be offered freely to CMBs, required a period of technical development that did not then allow a sufficient period of time to properly measure its impact within the funding period. These final workshops, then, were designed to gather feedback on the Toolkit in its current iteration, with a hope for further development under future funding, and it was discussed from the position of a post-pandemic uncertainty and new challenges, including the cost of living crisis, an imminent recession, the aftershock of Brexit, and the increase in fuel costs, all of which impact greatly on CMBs. Participants were walked through the Toolkit and how it operates, and were asked to give feedback. Comments from workshop participants focused on how to tweak questions to improve them, design/appearance/accessibility, and branding/legitimacy. Overall, the CMBs were extremely positive about the Toolkit and its potential value for their businesses. They all said they would use it. However, they suggested ways to improve the Toolkit which would require further funding. In particular, CMBs would like the Toolkit to enable them to: • View the marker score data in a variety of ways (a diagram view and a list view); • Measure themselves against a broader set of longer-term markers; • Compare their organisation against more specific sub-sets of other users e.g. subsectors or regions; • Compare their resilience scores with similar CMBs in a more detailed and qualitative way, to find out how they achieved high scores and what kinds of activities, approaches, and business models led to resilience; • Engage with and collaborate with other users, perhaps through case studies at first but later via some kind of community forum where experiences and advice can be shared. Final Virtual Workshops: 26/08/22 All regions 1 The Resourceful Company VRGO Ltd Focus Shift Films New Oil Sky Copy is King JOSÉ ORIGINAL LTD Emma Inks Visual Marvelry Freya Fashion 05/09/22 All regions 2 Creative Cardiff (partner) Baltic Creative (partner) The Art & Energy Collective Passenger Games Pinspired Ltd Witty Ditty Kidz Workshops Open to Create Agenda For Public Relations Ltd 06/09/22 All regions 3 Kaleider (partner) Croydon CEZ (partner) Made by Tottenham (partner) Tribe Porty (partner) Madlab (partner) Circle Tales Preston Street Films Maketank Cultural Lab Syntropy States Kilogramme Comma Press Kuiper Industries Ltd Pen and Paper Theatre The Sustainable Studio Frame Perfect Red and Black Rose |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | One in person ( face to face) workshop |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Regional |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | An initial in-person workshop was held in Cardiff with a small group of five participants from a partner organisation and CMBs. They were given a test version of the Toolkit to explore and provide feedback on. Comments were focussed on three elements of the Toolkit: 1. The technology and how it looks and works; 2. The questions asked to create the tailored diagnostic for the user; 3. The resources linked to in the Toolkit. General concerns were around: usability and accessibility; asking the right, specific, questions to enable users to feel that the Toolkit was reflecting their particular circumstances and not pushing them into a general box; and the importance of regional resources to be kept up-to-date, perhaps by users themselves. It was decided that more work needed to be done on the Toolkit before the final workshops. In-Person Workshop 16/06/22 Cardiff Creative Cardiff (partner) Open to Create VRGO Ltd Pen and Paper Theatre |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Public Policy Exchange |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | December 8th, 2022. Promoting the Cultural Industries & the Hospitality Sector: Building Back from Covid-19 & Dealing with the Energy Crisis. Public Policy Exchange - Guest Speaker. The PI was asked to speak at this event which looked at how to build back better from the Covid 19 crisis. The PI was able to draw widely on the CCERR project and spoke of the importance of resilience for the creative industries and the usefulness of digital toolkits for this purpose. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Resilience Workshop in Sao Paulo, Brazil |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | July 22nd, 2022. Creative economy Resilience in Brazil. Workshop given in Sao Paulo with University of Sao Paulo. There is significant interest in the idea of resilience for creative businesses internationally. This workshop was co-designed between the PI and USP in order to investigate the usefulness of the resilience toolkit for international practitioners. The cohort of businesses in Sao Paulo found it supremely useful, however they reiterated that the 'collaboration' marker was by far the most important in the context of Brazil, and more needs to be done to investigate how collaboration offers up resilience in the State of Sao Paulo. Also a point was made to policy makers from the Prefeitura de Sao Paulo in the room, that more engagement by the city and the state was needed. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Two Virtual Focus Groups |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Each regional group took part in two virtual focus groups between January and March 2022, facilitated via Zoom. In the first, discussion was concentrated on the markers of resilience and how they might be understood and developed according to the experiences of the participants. In the second, the toolkit was discussed and conversation focused on the questions that the toolkit would need to ask in order to produce useful diagnostics. Meticulous notes were taken during each focus group and these were analysed together to identify themes and concerns. They were run with project partners in Liverpool, Exeter, Bristol, Tottenham, Croydon, Cardiff, and Manchester. They make up part of the resilience programme. This first set of focus group conversations focussed on: • An exploration of what the Resilience Toolkit could do, how it might function, and how it would be useful for participants; • What the Toolkit would need to avoid or be careful of; • Discussion around the markers of resilience and how they relate to the experience of the participating CMBs which led to an expansion of markers for inclusion in a model of longer-term resilience; • Consideration of the concept of resilience, particularly within the capitalist context and in relation to future threats or crises; • Ideas around future development of the project. Below lists the date, regional partner, and the name of the creative businesses who attended. Virtual Focus Groups 1: 20/01/22 - Exeter - Kaleider (partner) The Art & Energy Collective Circle Tales Preston Street Films Maketank Cultural Lab 21/01/22 Bristol The Resourceful Company My Future My Choice Syntropy States VRGO Ltd 24/01/22 Manchester MadLab (partner) PASSENGER Games Ltd Kilogramme Comma Press Kuiper Industries Ltd Arts Catalyst 1520 studios CIC 25/01/22 Cardiff Creative Cardiff (partner) Focus Shift Films Musicbox Studios Ltd Lab Class Pen and Paper Theatre The Sustainable Studio Little Bird Films Big Lemon 27/01/22 Croydon Croydon CEZ (partner) Own A Chord Ltd Pinspired Ltd 28/01/22 Tottenham - Made by Tottenham (partner) Franklin Boateng Brand Mgt JOSÉ ORIGINAL LTD Frame Perfect Red and Black Rose Cornucopia Theatre Company Copy is King Witty Ditty Kidz Workshops New Oil Sky 04/02/22 Liverpool Baltic Creative (partner) Open to Create Jigsaw Coaching CIC Agenda For Public Relations Ltd Amy Frost Virtual Focus Groups 2: 14/02/22 Exeter - Kaleider (partner) The Art & Energy Collective Circle Tales Preston Street Films Maketank Cultural Lab 16/02/22 Manchester MadLab (partner) PASSENGER Games Ltd Kilogramme Comma Press Kuiper Industries Ltd Arts Catalyst 1520 studios CIC 17/02/22 Croydon Croydon CEZ (partner) Own A Chord Ltd Pinspired Ltd 18/02/22 Liverpool Open to Create Jigsaw Coaching CIC Agenda For Public Relations Ltd Amy Frost 21/02/22 Tottenham Made by Tottenham (partner) Franklin Boateng Brand Mgt JOSÉ ORIGINAL LTD Frame Perfect Red and Black Rose Copy is King Witty Ditty Kidz Workshops New Oil Sky 24/02/22 Bristol The Resourceful Company My Future My Choice Syntropy States VRGO Ltd 25/02/22 Edinburgh Tribe Porty (partner) Emma Inks Visual Marvelry Freja Fashion 01/03/22 Cardiff Creative Cardiff (partner) Focus Shift Films Musicbox Studios Ltd Lab Class Pen and Paper Theatre The Sustainable Studio Little Bird Films Big Lemon |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | Understanding Your Value. Freelancer Fortnight. Bristol |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | September 20th, 2022. Workshop: Understanding Your Value. Freelancer Fortnight. With Professor Jonathan Dovey. Watershed, Bristol. This workshop extend the remit of the resilience toolkit in order to test its applicability to freelancers from the local creative and cultural industries. The outcome was useful and most freelancers in the room were excited about a tool such as this that could deliver impact on their way of working. Of course the toolkit was not designed for freelancers so certain markers did not apply. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
| Description | United Arab Emirates University. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
| Results and Impact | February 20th, 2023. Creative and Cultural Ecosystems and Organisational Resilience. United Arab Emirates University. The PI was asked to present his work to students in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Organisational resilience for businesses in the creative and cultural industries was discussed as well as the work conducted on CCERR. The cultural and local contexts for international dimensions of this work was discussed, given that the business reality in the UAE is markedly different from the UK. Similar to the workshop in Brazil , there is interest in conducting similar research in the UAE. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |