TVCA-PROC-0026 Tees Valley Festivals Scale Up Programme - Business Support Programme

Tees Valley Combined Authority recognises the benefits that festivals bring to the region - socially, economically and reputationally. Festivals and events play a vital role in bringing communities together, transforming experience and perceptions of place and attracting visitors to the region. There is already a thriving festival ecology across the Tees Valley and to support the growth of the indigenous festivals ecology, TVCA has launched a Festivals Scale Up Programme (FSUP), the first initiative of the new Growth Programme for the Creative and Visitor Economies. The FSUP is a strategic and ambitious intervention to support the growth and sustainability of the region's most exciting indigenous festivals.

The Festivals Scale Up Programme will support a portfolio of festival businesses/organisations (8-10) over a four-year period (2022/23 - 2025/26). Support will include a mix of grant funding, training, specialist information, advice and guidance, access to industry or professional services support, mentoring, and access to a peer-to-peer network.

TVCA wishes to secure the services of specialist sector organisation/business who can work with the festival businesses and organisations in the Festival Scale Up Programme across the four-year programme to support them to scale up, commercialise and plan for a sustainable future.

TVCA want to provide festival businesses with access to creative and cultural industry business specialists who can provide independent advice, guidance, challenge and outside the box thinking to enable festival businesses to develop ambitious yet achievable growth/scale up targets.

We require a package of support and consultancy from a creative and cultural industry specialist delivery partner which features the following; 1. Business Planning - supporting diagnostics, preparing a business plan, modelling options, change management, growth management, critical thinking, visioning, 2. Governance - legal structures, policies, managing a board/trustees 3. Fundraising - Developing a case for support - Trust and Foundations, individual giving, corporate giving and sponsorship 4. Developing Earned Income - new approaches to trading activity - commercialisation, generating IP. 5. Marketing & Audience Development - target markets/audience development 6. Mentoring/Critical Friend - one to one support 7. Tailored consultancy - to be identified as necessary, based on individual needs of the festival. 8. Programme of peer insights - industry talks/meet the funder/ key issues Q&As

The programme must be tailored and responsive to the specific needs of individual festival businesses. However, where there are common development needs across the portfolio, shared learning sessions may be appropriate. We therefore envisage that delivery will be a mix of both group training sessions/workshops and one to one sessions/support/interventions.