The Stratford Perth Centre for Business announced the launch of a new version of their Starter Company Plus program today, making their resources available to those entrepreneurs in the arts and culture sector.

Holly Mortimer, the small business advisor with investStratford, said that traditionally they have run the starter company program with two generalized industry cohorts but decided this year to switch things up.

“One of the main drivers of economic development here in this region is arts and culture,” she said. “It made sense to partner up with the city, count and Destination Stratford to kind of promote or help support those that live inside of that space. I’ve found that for young people being educated in the arts, it can be very hard to leave the education system and try to run their artistic or culture-based business on a full-time basis.”

The five-week program includes one-on-one mentoring with industry experts, networking opportunities and access to up to $5,000 in grand funding for businesses. Mortimer said that in the course of reviewing applications for the program, the centre would see a fair number of applicants who fall into the arts and culture category so making a move like this seemed to connect the dots in a logical progression.

“Every year we tended to have a significant portion of our applicants who are inside of this portion of the industry, and they all came with the same issue – they have great passion for what they were doing and had seen some success but really struggled with accounting and growth processes and writing a business plan,” she said. “We thought this was a great way to tie all of the moving pieces together that are happening with the knowledge that we can deliver a very focused cohort. And the other reason I love this program apart from the money that’s available is the networking opportunities people will get by being in a group of people who are in the same area of interest and creative space. Whether that means they’re a woodworker, an actor, a visual artist or someone in food tourism, they can have the same experience when we get them in a room to teach and nurture them.”

Mortimer added that the biggest roadblocks for businesses finding success early on are common across whatever category the business finds itself in: managing cash flow. And with the arts and culture focus, that takes in a wide swath of variables.

“They may be earning business revenues sporadically or great amounts all at once but then not have funds coming in for months at a time,” she said. “Managing cash flow is going to be a huge piece to this where we have an accounting mentor to work with people and show them how to manage money, but the other piece that I think will be really interesting is taking all of the ideas for growth that creatives tend to have and put them into a step-by-step plan for phased growth. We’ll teach them some very traditional pieces to planning but in a really fun, creative way.”

The portal to apply for this program opened Monday, Nov. 18, and Mortimer said they will be accepting 17 applicants. That’s up from the 13 the program has accepted in past years, and she wants to encourage as many people who think they fit the category to apply and see what happens.

“I know that the arts and culture definition feels a little unclear, so just please apply because it’s pretty cool how broad the definition is in this case,” she said. “It can be a hair stylist, someone in trades, a traditional artist or a clothing designer – anything where there is a creative angle to your business or how you picture your business.”

The portal to apply can be found here, and Mortier encourages anyone with questions to contact her at the Stratford Perth Centre for Business at 519-305-5055, ext. 1005.