Creative Catalyst Scotland CIC

Who : Creative Catalyst (Scotland) CIC is a social enterprise which supports young people into Creative Careers. After establishing and running a similar two year pilot project for young creatives as part of the lead up to Perth Creative Exchange and The Famous Grouse Ideas Centre opening , founding director Helen O’Brien decided to take the model of this project forward as a social enterprise. In September 2019 we successfully received ‘Start It’ funding from Firstport, and moved into our new studio at Perth Creative Exchange in November 2019. We have just received Firstport ‘Build It’ funding to support and embed our development in 2021-22. We offer creative employability opportunities for young people who face barriers to employment and training in Perth & Kinross. This project is specifically targeted at young creative individuals who need support to develop their confidence in their creative skills and abilities, and signpost to other opportunities and experiences that will support them with next steps of a creative career. We work alongside other 16+ support agencies in Perth & Kinross who refer young people to us, and we welcome individuals and support workers to contact us directly. How: We offer work experience and mentoring opportunities with professional artists and makers who run live creative projects for us, from design and prototyping an idea, to making a final product, marketing and selling; visit shop here. These projects develop a broad spectrum of practical creative and transferable skills including using imagination, problem solving, clear communication, persistence, self discipline, collaboration and working to a deadline. We also run creative workshops and programmes for children, families and communities which offer opportunities for our young people to work alongside a lead artist to gain confidence and experience of delivering projects with different age groups.