Beyond Empathy (BE) is creating pathways for young people, fostering their creative talents and providing them with sustainable opportunities in the arts sector.
BE’s Nowra-based social enterprise, BE Studios, pairs experienced creative producers with emerging arts leaders, who receive mentoring, skills development and support. Together they deliver a range of sound, video production and podcasting services.
Through an Investing in Rural Community Futures (IRCF) grant, BE Studios has grown its capacity. The enterprise sought support to work on business development, marketing, community engagement, recruitment and collaboration.
Consciously building stronger ties within the community and formulating sustainability and fundraising strategies has better equipped the enterprise to support professional development and employment opportunities for young artists.
The initial $14,144 grant helped BE Studios leverage additional funding, including reaching the final stages of a possible $120,000 through the Federal Government’s Social Enterprise Development Initiative (SEDI).
In 2024, a fundraising campaign to support development for emerging leaders raised over $63,000. Further training, mentoring and professional development were provided to young participants through BE Studios’ increased resources and business development.
Client-based trading income of $88,354 was also used to increase investment into the capacity building and business development project, to the value of $41,452.
As each of the project activities has been implemented, including reviewing the business model, recruitment of a BE Studios Coordinator and strategic policies, the capacity and wellbeing of the BE Studios Team has continued to grow.
BE Studios has embraced new opportunities within their broadened network, allowing emerging leaders and participants to have greater involvement and employment in community cultural development projects.
If this story sparks a thought about a program in your region, connect with BE to learn more about how you could implement a similar initiative or collaborate with them to strengthen each others work.