Prosper Business Support: 715 hours of support, 70 organisations & 25,000 miles

On 31 March we came to the end of the business support period for our Prosper programme. In that time, we delivered 715 hours of support for our cohort of 70 arts organisations, creative enterprises, museums and libraries. There were 24 group learning events in all, and the distance travelled by our advisors and the team to deliver these, and the 1:1 support, totalled more than 25,000 miles.

On 16 April we invited the cohort, along with the programme’s partners, to a wrap-up celebration at Coventry University. The central idea of the event was to explore the outcomes of Prosper and the need for business support within the creative and cultural sectors.

Mike Clarke (Hammersmith and Fulham Library Service) explained how Prosper provided support that gave them “…the courage to try new things”. They experienced a great response from their staff, where lots of new ideas were generated.

Sarah Bird, from family arts and events company Wild Rumpus told us, “…support and advice…is probably what will help take you to the next level.”

Over the coming weeks our partners at Centre for Business in Society at Coventry University will be analysing the surveys of the programme, crunching the numbers, and producing an evaluation which we hope will evidence the positive change and development that can be instigated through business support for the creative and cultural sectors. We will be revealing these results in June on our website and through social media.

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