Those involved in the creative side of the greeting card industry, or would like to be, can be part of a new community thanks to the Creative Card Collective, a new subscription membership organisation that has just officially launched.
The brainchild of card industry experts Bev Cunningham and Hannah Curtis, Creative Card Collective online hub will provide invaluable information, advice, inspiration and insights about the greeting card industry as well as bringing everyone together as a community of supportive like-minded creatives.
Bev, founder of Ginger Bee Studios, has many years’ experience in the greeting card industry, both as a creative director (she worked for Abacus for many years) publisher and more recently as a freelance design consultant and photographer, specialising in the card and gift industries. Hannah’s industry expertise spans over 15 years as an artist agent and creative director. She now owns and runs her own art licensing agency. Creative Sparrow.
The idea for launching the Creative Card Collective as a membership ‘place for greeting card creatives’ arose from a Facebook Group, of the same name, that Bev founded two years ago.
Explaining the rationale, Bev said: “When I made the leap from being employed to self-employed, I began to appreciate how difficult it can be for creatives working alone and so struck upon the idea of creating a Facebook group specifically for creatives in the card industry. It seemed to me that there was a good network between salespeople, probably because they see each other at trade shows, but the creatives were more often cut off from each other.”
The Facebook group, which now has around 300 members, underlined the need for further support, which prompted Bev to partner with her industry friend, Hannah and progress the concept into a subscription membership model.
Membership will allow access to an online members’ community, in which there is an archive of ‘how to’ guides, trends, a member’s chat forum facility and a jobs and briefs noticeboard. Hannah and Bev have also teamed up with a number of industry suppliers, ‘Collaborators’, to offer members exclusive discounts on a range of relevant products and services. These currently include The Colour Coop, Creative Sparrow, Forever Creative, GCA, The Imaging Centre, Loxleys, Progressive Greetings, Total Licensing and Windles.
In addition to the online support, there will be a monthly e-bulletin that will deliver up to date colour boards, a host of pertinent information and trend reports to inform and inspire members.
Other development plans in the pipeline include instigating portfolio surgeries, seminars and workshops throughout the year, which Creative Card Collective members will enjoy discounts on ticket prices.
Having shared their plans for this new creative resource for some time, Hannah confirms that there is already long list of members waiting to join. “Bev and I are very excited about this new venture. As well as inspiring members joining will be a great way for creatives to increase their industry knowledge, network with new contacts, develop their skills, and keep up to date with trends and colour forecasting.”
The annual membership fee is £180, but as an extra incentive to be one of the founding members, there is a 50% early bird discount (worth £90) on annual membership being offered until the end of November. Click here to access a coupon.
Three month and six month memberships are also available.
Top: Hannah Curtis (left) and Bev Cunningham, co-owners of Creative Card Collective at PG Live in July at which they exhibited together.
