Our Enterprise support is aimed at helping artists and businesses contextualise their studies and achieve their entrepreneurial goals.
We can help you in a variety of areas such as:
- Pulling basic business plans/timelines together
- Strategizing music releases
- Realising project ideas
- Supporting funding bids
and much more!
Where we do not have the answer, can tap into pools of external professionals, and link you up to relevant resources. We can also look to assist projects financially with small proof of concept/seed funds (up to the value of £500) to support early development stages.
Our incubator/funding surgery is open every Wednesday between 10am and 4pm in room 401. Please book a session via this link.
We also welcome drop in's so please feel free to stop by.
Support is available all year round.
We do not accept formal applications for this fund. Instead, we work with students and graduates to develop their ideas in line with a set of criteria. Together, we build a strong case for funding by discussing your project and shaping it into something that may benefit from financial support.
These discussions are designed not only to explore whether your project fits the criteria for our funding, but also to prepare you for applying to external sources of support — such as Arts Council England or Help Musicians.
Funding should be linked to a specific project or business idea. This means we need to see how our support will directly lead to a piece of work you create or develop — such as a performance, creative project, or business start-up.
If you're interested in accessing this funding, please get in touch to arrange a conversation with the Employability & Enterprise Team.
As a guide, below are activities that we may consider funding.
- Prototype Development
- Photo/Video Production
- PR Campaigns
- Specialised Business Advice
- Studio Time
- Logo/Brand Development
- Mentoring (in person or online)
NB: Any other reasonable requests not outlined above will be considered.
To clarify, these are not activities that we will simply fund on request – we will discuss your needs and support your idea development and professional progression.
Things we do not usually consider:
Please feel free to drop in and chat to us about the below. Although we may not be able to fund them, we can chat about other methods of support.
- Retrospective activity – i.e., for costs that have already been incurred/project activity that has already taken place
- Purchase of musical equipment or software
- Activities where the core beneficiaries are not Leeds Conservatoire students or graduates
- Audition fees for postgraduate studies at Leeds Conservatoire, or elsewhere
- Any further, higher, or postgraduate qualification
- Activities which are not related to music, the performing arts, or the creative industries
- Course fees for online short courses
- Attendance at a conference or seminar (in person or online)
- Anything directly assessed by your course
If you have any questions about the support available, please contact [email protected].
This support scheme is open to all Leeds Conservatoire current students and graduates.
