What is iMayflower?
Plymouth has been awarded a grant of nearly £3.5 million from the Cultural Development Fund (CDF) to deliver the iMayflower project; one of only five projects in England and the only one in the South West.
iMayflower is helping Plymouth shout about its culture and creativity offer, develop a long term, sustainable legacy and provide skills and learning opportunities through events and community engagement. We are also supporting creative sector businesses to become more visible on an international stage.
The project involves working with partners across the city who are developing digital technology, such as 3-D printing, virtual reality or immersive technology to help the city expand its expertise in advanced manufacturing, robotics and digital making.
Over 200 businesses and social enterprises will benefit from support to develop new products, services, content and jobs over the next financial year, providing skills development for people from a range of communities, ages and backgrounds.
We are also helping creative organisations access much-needed finance through our partnership with Crowdfunder and Creative England.
Who is involved?
The iMayflower Project and has been supported by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who fund the Cultural Development Fund, which is administered by Arts Council England. iMayflower is delivered in partnership with Creative England, Crowdfunder, Destination Plymouth, Plymouth City Council, Plymouth College of Art, Real Ideas and University of Plymouth.
iMayflower is focussed on four key areas;
- Place shaping – delivering large scale cultural and creative events to inspire and enrich lives: Mayflower 400 and Ignite and Illuminate Light Festival
- Creative sector business support – growing our digital creative industries, focusing on Immersive Tech and Digital Fabrication: Market Hall and The Bridge
- Skills and learning programme – increasing the creative and business skills of our young people, communities, graduate and professionals: Smart Citizens through Plymouth College of Art, and Digital Badges and skills development with Real Ideas
- Access to innovative finance – providing accessible start-up and scale-up funding for businesses in our creative economy.
Through this project we’ll be creating jobs, supporting businesses, delivering training and engaging with over 1.4 million people to celebrate and nurture Plymouth’s incredible creative and cultural industry.
To find out what Real Ideas is up to sign up to our free membership and check out our What’s On for opportunities and activity related to the creative and cultural industry.
To find out more about iMayflower and what our partners are up to please visit:
https://www.visitplymouth.co.uk/invest/why-plymouth/creative-digital-city