Creative Edinburgh: Capital Awards

Launched in 2011, Creative Edinburgh is a project after The Skinny's own heart, aiming to do a whole lot for the creative community with extremely limited resources. Run by a core team of two, directors Lynsey Smith and Janine Matheson, backed by a board and a steering group of diverse local creatives, they aim to connect the different communities working in the capital, promoting interaction between individuals and disciplines, and ultimately enabling Scottish artistic practitioners and networks to go from strength to strength.

They celebrated their first birthday with an awards ceremony in Summerhall that went down a storm with members and guests alike. This year they turn two, and are having another awards bash with the gongs being doled out in the Bongo, soundtracked by an array of local bands, curated by Ten Tracks. The line-up includes FOUND, Jesus H. Foxx and Esther Swift, and the bar will be stocked with a specially-created beverage, the Creative Edinbeer. All proceeds from the event go to the Scottish Association of Mental Health, because, says Lynsey, "A lot of our members are made up of micro businesses, creative individuals who spend a lot of their time on their own. This can be very isolating and hard, so there's no surprise that we need a wee bit of support from time to time, and SAMH is that hand of support." The awards themselves will be made by jeweller Bonnie Bling. Lynsey elaborates, "Our awards each year are designed by one of our members. Last year they were designed by Euan Lind, an innovative product designer. This year they will be designed by Mhairi Mackenzie of Bonnie Bling, who will be producing some quirky lasercut accessories for our winners." 

So what exactly is Creative Edinburgh all about? Lynsey explains, "We're here to unite, inspire and promote the creative, cultural and tech community of Edinburgh. With such a rich number of creative individuals and businesses within the capital, there wasn't really anything that brought them all together under one roof before. Cross sectoral collaborations is where we both feel the magic lies, when a tech genius meets a visual artist, or an architect meets a musician, shaping collaborations, projects and connections that are fresh and exciting.

"Being self employed ourselves, we understand the gaps in support that creative individuals meet so our programme is a mixture of events, professional development workshops, mentoring, matchmaking and one-to-ones with experts.  As we grow larger and larger (we now have almost 900 members), we sit in a better position to help our community. The unique thing about our organisation is our relationship with our members – there's very few of the 900 that we haven't met and we know most by their first name. We really feel that makes a difference, creating something that people feel welcome and valued in. "

A lot of Creative Edinburgh's work involves facilitating meetings, dealing with the Council, and generally optimising opportunities for their diverse posse. It's a key role within any creative scene as artists of all disciplines have a marked tendency to be a bit rubbish at the logistical side of a career. What in their first two years has made the pair the proudest? Members' success, be it through connections forged at their events – "one of our filmmaker members was approached at our Creative & Corporate Love event by someone to work on the You've Been Trumped documentary"  – or jobs they've landed through the network exposure. 

Looking to the future, the plan is to keep on growing and helping to grow the Scottish creative industries. "We've hooked up with our friends Creative Dundee and Creative Stirling (we will also be hooking up with other city networks) and some exciting bits and bobs are to come which will open up the connection and collaboration opportunities on a greater scale for each of our communities." To raise a glass of Creative Edinbeer to a future of collaboration, head along to Bongo on Tuesday 12 November.