News

Bangor based Seacourt Print Workshop is one of 17 local arts organisations to be successfully completing the new Arts & Business NI Blueprint programme. Launched in 2022, Blueprint supports arts organisations in becoming more robust and sustainable through specialised training, one-on-one mentoring and valuable investment grants.

Now completing its first cohort, 30 arts and cultural organisations went through the initial Blueprint phase of mentoring, with 17 progressing to phase two, giving each access to investment grants worth £45,000 to test income generation ideas and develop growth strategies.

Seacourt is a print workshop based in Main Street that offers courses and events for all. Founded 43 years ago, Seacourt recently developed a strategy focused on reconnecting with Bangor city centre. Having relocated from Balloo to the Grade B1 listed Ulster Bank building in 2021, Seacourt applied for the Blueprint programme to help support its vision for the future.  

“Artists deserve to both live and work in a vibrant, cultural Bangor. We want to be a space that helps regenerate the city centre and gives artists somewhere welcoming and beautiful to thrive in,” Emma Drury, Seacourt Print Workshop said.

“When we moved into our new building, we started to fundraise to buy it, a priority was to become more financially nimble and in doing so develop new income streams to protect our future. Blueprint seemed like a fantastic opportunity to learn those skills and at the same time receive valuable funding. The programme not only gave us the financial resources we needed to make necessary improvements to the building and studio spaces in those early days, it also gave us the chance to meet other artistic organisations from across Northern Ireland to learn from one another.

“Thanks to everything we learned from Blueprint, we now have multiple artists in studios in the building – painters, jewellers, multimedia artists all work here and bring the space to life whilst also helping our organisation financially. The training we went through also helped us lay a foundation for where we’re going next.”

Arts & Business NI is continuing to develop the Blueprint programme and hopes to open a second cohort for applications later this year.

Emma Drury would recommend other organisations consider the opportunity when applications open. “Blueprint delivers way beyond funding. Participants get to know each other well and the support from mentors and trainers is unmatched. It gave us a chance to step back and think about how to best develop Seacourt and how we can keep doing what we love in the heart of Bangor for years to come.

“We are moving into a new phase for Seacourt in 2024, we own the building and we are undergoing a huge renovation project set to be unveiled in early October. Blueprint has given us the tools we need to keep evolving and looking towards our future with optimism,” Emma Drury said.

Seacourt secured support to buy and renovate the former bank building through the Department for Levelling Up and Communities Community Ownership Fund, the Foyle Foundation, Esme Mitchell Trust, Blueprint, donations and social investment through Community Finance Ireland.

Find out more about Blueprint here.