Delivered by Creative Edinburgh in collaboration with partner networks
Summary of the Opportunity:
Creative Edinburgh have prepaid 35 places for creatives to take part in:
- a five-week intensive skills development course (times & dates TBC)
- five months of 1:1 mentoring from among Creative Edinburgh’s 200 mentors
- a rich suite of high-quality digital resources designed to help future-proof their careers
They also have a small budget to support travel to two in-person sessions in Edinburgh, as well as some flexibility to potentially host meet-ups elsewhere across Scotland. The value of the programme is £1,000 per participant, and all participants will receive a certificate of completion. For context, 67% of those who took part in the locally delivered Raise Your Game programme last year secured employment in the creative sector within 26 weeks as a direct outcome of participating.
More detail:
Delivery Period: April 2026 – March 2027
Lead Organisation: Creative Edinburgh
Delivery Partners (TBC): Creative Glasgow, Creative Dundee, Creative Stirling, CABN (Scottish Borders), DG Collective (Dumfries & Galloway), OnFife, Applied Arts Scotland
Funding Partner: Creative Scotland
Creative Edinburgh will deliver Raise Your Game: National Skills Programme for Creatives, scaling the successful Edinburgh-based Raise Your Game skills development model to support freelancers, early-career creatives, and returning professionals across Scotland. Delivered in collaboration with several regional creative networks, the programme provides coordinated, sector-specific skills development and strengthened peer networks.
Through hybrid delivery, including online sessions, in-person introductory and final industry insight sessions, mentorship, and a centralised digital resource hub, participants will gain the confidence, business skills, and industry connections necessary to progress toward sustainable creative careers and project work.
This national rollout builds directly on lessons learned from the four years of successful annual delivery in Edinburgh, while incorporating adaptation and engagement across all networks to ensure regional relevance and accessibility.
Creative Edinburgh proposes a targeted national intervention to strengthen the skills support
landscape for creative freelancers and entrepreneurs across Scotland.
The 2024 Creative Scotland Review of Support for Emerging Creative Businesses identified critical gaps:
● Fragmented and inconsistent access to sector-specific support
● Limited digital and enterprise skills development
● Economic precarity and lack of sustainable career pathways
● Difficulty navigating the diverse support ecosystem
Raise Your Game National addresses these challenges through a network-led, blended delivery model, leveraging lessons from the Edinburgh delivery while adapting content and delivery to national delivery.
By combining practical training, mentorship, peer networking, and digital resources, the programme lays the foundation for future national delivery and sector-wide infrastructure, ensuring early-career creatives can access coordinated, high-quality support regardless of geography.
Aims:
● Scale the proven Raise Your Game model nationally through other regional networks.
● Enable creatives to access skills development, mentorship, and networking opportunities.
● Foster cross-network collaboration and knowledge-sharing.
● Increase participation for diverse audiences, including career returners and neurodiverse
practitioners.
● Cultivate a practice-led, learning-based approach to career progression.
Objectives:
- Deliver Raise Your Game National to cohorts of 35 participants across all seven networks.
- Offer 7 online interactive sessions, complemented by in-person introductory and final Insight
to Industry sessions, with travel bursaries where budgets allow. - Provide post-session access to a digital hub with curated resources and peer support for
three months post-completion. - Recruit and engage participants across networks, ensuring inclusivity and regional
representation. - Monitor outcomes using a shared evaluation framework tracking confidence, skills, and
employability. - Undertake research and engagement with each network to adapt the programme content to
regional contexts and participant needs.
Cohorts and Format:
● 35 participants per cohort from across Scotland (5 participants per creative network).
● 7 online sessions (2–3 hours each), plus an in-person introductory session and an Insight to Industry session.
Delivery Approach:
● Introductory Session (in-person, Edinburgh): Orientation, goal-setting, social networking.
● Online Sessions: Focused on three programme chapters — Taking Stock, Making Moves, Thinking Forward. Topics include business planning, marketing, finance, project management, data, legal awareness, open source, and design thinking.
● Insight to Industry Session (in-person, Edinburgh): Networking and presentations with
employers, festivals, and creative agencies. While the session will be hosted in Edinburgh, it will be inclusive of all seven networks/regional areas. Industry colleagues from Dundee,
Glasgow, Stirling, etc, will be invited to attend and participate to ensure fair regional
representation.
Additional Support:
● Bespoke digital resource hub: Curated content, templates, and peer-to-peer networking
accessible during and for three months post-programme.
● Mentor Yourself Toolkit: Self-reflection and continued development resource.
● Post-programme guidance from Creative Edinburgh for up to 26 weeks.
Trainers & Expertise:
● Seven long-standing expert trainers with experience of supporting early-career creatives and freelancers (Edinburgh pilot trainers included, to be confirmed for national delivery).
● Creative Edinburgh programme team, including part-time Raise Your Game National
Coordinator and support from a full-time Programme Manager, overseeing delivery,
evaluation, and cross-network liaison.
This programme aligns with Creative Scotland’s Strategic Plan and recommendations from the 2024 Creative Scotland Review of Support for Emerging Creative Businesses by:
● Promoting Fair Work and sustainable freelance practices
● Providing coordinated pathways for early-career creatives
● Ensuring regional equity by delivering via seven networks
● Strengthening collaboration and reducing duplication across Scotland
The programme complements Edinburgh’s Creative Industries: Pathways to Careers (2025–2028).
The project is an Edinburgh-based initiative designed to improve routes into sustainable employment within the city’s creative industries. Led by Creative Edinburgh with sector partners, it connects education, employability, and creative networks to help freelancers, graduates, and early-career practitioners build clearer, fairer pathways from learning to earning.
To ensure regional relevance and adaptability, the programme will:
● Undertake targeted research with each network to understand local creative ecosystems, barriers, and opportunities.
● Co-design cohort recruitment with networks to reflect regional industries and participant
needs.
● Embed network staff in evaluation to strengthen cross-network capability.
For more information visit https://creative-edinburgh.com/