Foundry658 was an initiative of the Victorian Government’s Creative State strategy delivered by ACMI and State Library Victoria. Foundry658 supported creative people to transform their ideas into sustainable businesses.
The Foundry658 program included a range of business support initiatives, with:
- Roadshow talks and information sessions across Victoria
- Bootcamp sessions designed to test and support the development of a proposed business project
- An Accelerator skills-building intensive offering tailored advice, networking opportunities and seed funding of $20,000 for ten selected projects.
Who was Foundry658 for?
Foundry658 was designed to support independent artists, small arts organisations, not-for-profits, commercial creative enterprises, early-stage entrepreneurs and creative industries practitioners. Applications came from practitioners in fields that were directly working with, or wished to work in collaborative opportunities with creative industries practitioners (for example augmented reality, robotics, digital media etc).
How it worked
Foundry658 aimed to grow and scale creative ideas into sustainable and successful businesses, using a ‘start-grow-scale-connect’ model:
- Start – build a group comprised of peers from related fields and develop early concepts.
- Grow – provide business skills, resources, facilities and advice for real business incubation.
- Scale – provide business development support and link projects with investment opportunities.
- Connect – connect projects with Foundry658’s wider business and expert network.