It started as an e-bulletin of jobs in the creative sector, but The Big Idea (TBI) has evolved into the on-line home of the creative community.

 


TBI: a place to network, promote and keep on top of issues.

TBI producer Jacquie Clarke says employment opportunities still provides the main focus of the site, but it carries a huge array of information on everything you need to know to be a networked and informed member of the creative industries.

“Our project has made the industry and employment patterns of the creative sector more explicit,” she says. “Before we began, there was a feeling out there that jobs in the creative industry were hidden and went to the elite, to those in the know. Now people can track jobs and plan their training around the work they know is out there.”

TBI also carries profiles of successful practitioners and those with an “X-factor”. The content is inspirational and educational.

Featuring around 45 jobs, the e-bulletin still goes out once a week, with links back to the website for more information. The site has featured more than 4,000 jobs since 2001 and has over 12,000 subscribers – around 20% of NZ’s creative sector.

But TBI has become more than a jobs website. It’s a place to network, find studios, promote and keep on top of issues facing creative workers. “So many creative people work in isolation,” says Jacquie. “Our major achievement is the sense of community The Big Idea has created. We also bring many of the different medias together such as theatre and design, film, Maori art, etc. It all happens under the one umbrella.”

The site attracts around 5,100 unique visitors a day and has a 63% return rate, but the team wants more. The next phase is a major revamp to take advantage of the latest technology and turn it into a model of sustainable, community-based enterprise development.

The upgrade will allow on-line conferencing, uploads so artists can showcase their work and better integration of material already on the site. There will be a freelance registry, information on auditions and residencies, funding and micro-fi nance.

To develop its plans, TBI works in partnership with organisations including Auckland City Council, Committee for Auckland, Ministry of Social Development, Auckland Regional Trust and groups such as the Artists Alliance and the Moving Image Centre.

“This is an Auckland project that is working nationwide,” Jacquie says. “We’re able to profi le success and reveal another side of Auckland – as a centre of progressive community development and creativity.”

www.tbi.co.nz

  • In 2007 ASB CommunityTrust granted The Big Idea $105,000