ENTREPRENEURS in film, television and digital media in the North East have the chance to claim a slice of a new £75,000 fund that aims to create jobs in the creative industries.

The Northern Film & Media industry group has launched the pilot Creative Jobs Fund to help smaller firms or production projects based in the region to grow.

It has raised £75,000 from the European Regional Development Fund, which it will typically give out in grants of between £5,000 and £20,000, which can be match-funded by the recipient companies. It will look particularly at the potential to sustain or create jobs when awarding the money.

It is modelled on the Government’s £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund, which was aimed at giving grants of at least £1m to smaller businesses, and which last year helped to create hundreds of jobs in the North East.

Northern Film & Media says that smaller media businesses often find it hard to get public funding. It wants to show how much growth and how many jobs can be created by relatively modest investment and says the fund is the first of its type dedicated to the creative industries.

Tom Harvey, chief executive of Northern Film & Media, said: “There are around 2,100 people working in the North East creative industries and the sector has experienced solid growth through relatively small levels of public subsidy over the past decade.

“We want to see more creative companies securing investment from centralised or non-sector specific funds. If they are to be successful, they will have to demonstrate an ability to generate a significant amount of jobs.

“This pilot fund will test the ability of the sector to deliver on the outputs expected from larger initiatives such as the Regional Growth Fund.”