A NEW business incubation program will help entrepreneurs establish and grow their new enterprises.
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The Emporium Creative Hub in Mitchell Street - formerly known as The Studio - has brought forward its program to support creative enterprises during the coronavirus pandemic.
Emporium manager David Hughes said it was exciting to offer the program now when so many creative businesses are doing it tough.
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"The creative industries are key to our regional economy surviving and thriving," he said. "They help other businesses and organisations emotively engage customers, tell their story and reach new audiences."
The 12-week program will be led by Leah Sertori and will be delivered online with hopes of face-to-face aspects being introduced.
"(Leah) has a great background and heaps of experience and great networks," Mr Hughes said. "She's bought in some interesting people with good commercial acumen who are also attuned to creative industries and local entrepreneurs."
Ms Sertori said the program aims to help people as they begin their new creative business ventures.
"The first time anyone starts a new business it's both exhilarating and frustrating," she said.
"There are steps in the process that can be taught, that are easy to learn and implement and proven to speed up development."
The Emporium Creative Hub was developed by the Australian Centre for Moving Image with a local advisory group to support local creative industries.
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ACMI director and chief executive Katrina Sedgwick said support was vital for creative practitioners and businesses to develop sustainable and successful models.
"We're excited to share our knowledge and experience, working with Creative Victoria to establish Emporium Creative Hub and launch the Creative Industries Business Incubator," she said.
Mr Hughes said creative and entrepreneurial people would be brimming with ideas after being in lockdown for most of the year.
"By nature, creative people are resilient, optimistic and full of ideas," he said.
"Even though creative industries have been hit really hard, one of the things I see is people coming up with new ideas, adapting and being flexible to the situation.
"That's the strengths of people in creative industries. It will be interesting to see what comes out of it."