New initiative to drive creative growth through inclusive practice

Goldsmiths launches SYNAPSE Fair Growth, a new inclusive growth programme for the region’s creative sector.

SYNAPSE Fair Growth aims to understand and address the challenges of innovation, growth, and talent acquisition and retention in the creative sector across London, Essex and Kent, and to nurture systemic change around inclusive and equitable practice.

It builds on the success of the initiative – which has  already worked with more than 5,500 students on applying entrepreneurial thinking to their degree courses and career plans – and Goldsmiths’ extensive work supporting businesses in Lewisham and south London.

Using this expertise to support growth across the Thames Estuary the team aims to contribute to regional-level growth, and demonstrate the scalability of Goldsmiths’ work.

A key element of SYNAPSE Fair Growth is advocating for inclusive practice as an ethical – and, largely untapped – growth strategy for creative organisations. This builds on Goldsmiths’ expertise in developing sustainable creative, cultural and social enterprises, as well as a deep-seated commitment to diversity and inclusion in its work as a university.

Goldsmiths academics and practitioners will engage with creative organisations with a structured training programme, covering areas including recruitment, leadership, finance and organisational culture, and an inclusivity toolkit. They will also encourage creative organisations to share their own experiences and insights in order to learn from them directly.

The programme comprises two in-person, full-day workshops and two online evening development sessions. The in-person sessions will take place in Woolwich on Friday 19 April and Friday 10 May.