People are always saying in the creative industries – it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Now, with Creative Sydney’s 10×10 Project, under the umbrella of Vivid Sydney, it’s not just who you know, it’s who knows you.

Festival Director, Jess Scully in our phone interview is flummoxed that I’m having trouble finding all the profiles on the Loop website and tries to lead me through it. There’s someone in the background nagging her to move her car and Creative Sydney is mid-way through – things are hectic.

‘Okay,’ she says returning to the conversation at hand, ‘so that whole project came about because every time I would go to meet with someone (and I’ve met with hundreds of people in the lead up to Creative Sydney, each of them would recommend two or three people who they would say were ‘just fantastic’ or I ‘just had to talk to’. And so I started to think about the power of personal recommendation…I wanted to find a way to harness that to provide some kind of business support for these outstanding creative people,’ she says.

The result was a wish list of iconic Sydney-based “creatives” who they then asked to be ‘curators’. It was a list of some well-known personalities and some lesser known, some odd choices and some clever ones. Some of the curators were Margaret Pomeranz, Sarah-Jane Clarke and Heidi Middleton of Sass & Bide; Rebecca Carrasco, Rhonda Roberts and Liane Rossler. Each of these curators, were then invited to select their own list of 10 people whose creative work inspires them, again all Sydney-based. This cabal of shoulder-taps is the 10×10 Project.

So it turns out the power of personal recommendation can be…ah powerful. As a result of this project these creatives have been given via Creative Sydney access to business support through the Federally funded, Creative Industries Innovation Centre (CIIC) run out of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS).

‘So I’m just looking through the site now,’ says Scully returning to the net. If she was reading off the screen I still can’t find it. ‘They’re providing three tiers of support so for Creative start ups and entrepreneurs, they’re giving them access to market validisation, and um commericalisation programs.’ I’m not sure what they are either.

The three tiers means, start-ups and emerging creative businesses, mid-size businesses and established. ‘They’re hooking them up with CIIC business advisors to help them develop business plans and pitching strategies.’

CIIC business advisors mostly come with senior management, legal and consulting backgrounds and substantial experience in a wide variety of fields and are based all around the country.

‘They’re also connecting them with ATP Innovations who provide them with a one on one session to help them develop commericalisation strategies.’

ATP Innovations, if you were wondering, is a ‘technology commericalisation hub’ owned by the four major universities, UTS, UNSW, The University of Sydney and ANU. It is charged with maximising the benefits of what it does to its shareholders (the Universities) but it’s basically providing pretty interesting (if badly spelt) business training such as bizStart, bizConnect and bizCapital.

‘One of the projects,’ Scully continues, ‘will also be offered three months in the National Innovation Centre, which gives them a space where they can use a work station, meeting rooms, office administration and all kinds of mentoring as well.’

‘Those businesses or creatives on the list who are bit further along on their path – they’ll be offered access to some of the CIIC program partners to work with them on growth strategies.’

Some of these program partners could potentially be the law firm Freehills to work with them on intellectual property law, the IBM Australian Development Laboratory or Westpac for finance. ‘Then for the slightly larger companies, so those with over a million dollars turn over a year, they’re going to receive either a business review from a CIIC business adviser, as well as a business diagnostic which looks at human resources, marketing finance strategy and also importantly how they can grow, so helping to devise pathways for growth.’

Sounds pretty impressive. This is all great stuff for those who have been chosen, and who live in Sydney but it also feeds into a variety of government policy objectives too, particularly the Rudd government’s desire to achieve a ‘national innovation system’.

There’s been big budget increases in research and innovation (to $8.6 billion in 2009-10) under the auspicious that Labor will ‘support and foster innovation and creativity across the whole Australian economy. Investing in innovation and skills is critical to generating the jobs and businesses of the future.’ (http://www.alp.org.au/where-we-stand/21st-century-economy). So there’s cash.

The report the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research funded through Enterprise Connect and the Creative Industries Innovation Centre, ‘Creative Industries Economic Analysis Final Report’ and prepared by the Centre for International Economics Canberra and Sydney (I know the names just roll off the tongue) says:

So it would seem even if it didn’t know it Creative Sydney, the ‘local side’ to Vivid Sydney is also helping nation building – assisting in developing the economic viability and commericalisation of the local creative community.

‘Exactly, exactly,’ gushes Scully. ‘You know, its great to be acknowledged and its really wonderful to be able to be recognised by your peers (which is the feed back we’re getting from lots of the amazing people who are have been nominated in the programme) but what’s even better is really practical support that very often if you’re running a creative business you either can’t afford or you don’t know where to find. We’re trying to build Sydney’s place as Australia’s capital for creative industries.’

Is it going to work? Well, Scully’s circumspect. ‘We’re only two years in [with Creative Sydney] better not make any grand claims yet. I think the important thing is that we’ve drawn attention to the fact that this idea of the creative sector exists. I think the individual industries within the sector are very good at campaigning on their own behalf, for example the film industry and the music industry are quite organised and they’re good at doing that. But there are other industries within the sector who haven’t had the benefit of that kind of organization. This is an opportunity for them to get access to this kind of collective support.’

It was at this point that Scully had to go move her car because someone was getting pretty shirty behind her. But that left me opportunity to get to the website, and there certainly are some amazing creative people out there, who will now get more known.

Adam Laerkesen – Artist/ Sculpture

Kelvin Ho – Architect

Edward Coutts –Davidson- Creative Director

Anna Lunoc DJ/ Producer/Designer

Mika Popov Artist Les Interieurs – Interior Design

Joshua Yeldmar – Artist

(check) 360 – landscape architects

Romance Was Born – Fashion label

Jordan Askill – Jewellery / Designer

Leon Ford – Writer / Director

Maeve Dermody – Actress

Nicole O’Donohue – Producer

Sarah Snook – Actor

Adam Arkapaw – Cinematographer

Adrian Wills – Filmmaker

David Michod –Writer / Director

Luke Doolan – Editor

Tim Levinson – musician

Mark Modre – Musician

Aaron Robinson – Musician / Presenter / Actor

Bones Atlas – Musicans

LC Beats – Musician/Beat Boxer/ Animator

Ed Prescott – Musician

MC Trey – Hip Hop Artist / Community Arts Activist

Mickey Grossman – Musician

Dan Neeson – Director / Videographer/Composer

Dean Belacastro – Liane Rossler – Co-Founder Dinosaur Designs and co-founder Green Ups

Zac and Zoltan Zavos – Publisher/Online Business

Angagram Studio – Ideas Office

Matt Levinson Journalist / Broadcaster Republic of Everyone – greening brands marketeers

Remo Giuffre –merchant / online entrepreneur/ global thinker

Circul8 – creative design company

Jenny Lacey – Editor-and-Chief online magazine LMNOP

Melinda Tually – Ethical trader / Producer / Jack of all trades

Michelle McCosker & Alasdair Nicol – Creative Director & Producer/ Artists/ Designers /Production Managers

Heidi Dokulil and Graeme Smith – Designers

Ash Bolland – Film / Commerical Director

Benja Harney – Paper Engineer

Mini Graff – Artist

Renny Kodgers – Performer

Chris Wu – Pop Frenzy record label, touring and events

Billygoat and the Mongrels – Band

Joseph Allen Shea – Curator / Publisher / Gallerist

Rob Barton – Creative Director / Landscape Architect/Furniture Designer

Pia Van Gelder – Electronic Media Artist

Doug Bayne – Animator and VFX

Jennifer Kwok – Manager Customs House

Toko – Creative Design Company

One8one7 – Creative Design Company

Frank Minnaert – Architect Urban Future Organisation – Collective of Architects

Craig Rudd – Artist

Matt Chan – Architect

Damien Butler – Designer

Gabriele Ulacco – Architectural Designer and Educator

Sarah Benton – Architectural Designer and Lecturer

The STC Residents – Theatremakers

Kate Mulvany – Writer / Actor

Arts Radar – Arts Support and Production

Urban Theatres Projects – Theatrical Company

Carlos Gomes – Director /Theatre Designer

Clare Britton – Artist / Puppeteer

Jake Nash – Set Designer / Writer / Director / Artist

Stefan Gregory – Composer and Sound Designer

Eamon Flack – Artistic Associate Company B Belvoir Alice Babidge – Designer Rebecca Carroasco – Creative Director and co-founder Colman

Rasic Carrasco The Glue Society – Independent Creative Collective Like Minded Studio – Art Studio Nylon Studios – Studio of Composers and Sound Designers

Three Drunk Monkeys – Brand Ad Agency Mathematics – Design / Film Studio

Olives Friend Pop – Kid’s Clothing Designers

Rebecca Wolkenstein – Creative Agent / Publisher/ Entrepreneur

Soap Creative – Digital Agency

Young Guns – Award Show

The Critical Slide Society – Artist and Illustrator House

Bangarra Dance Theatre – Dance company

Pip Runcimon – Designer

David Page – Composer

Rachel Perkins – Director / Producer

Warwick Thornton – Director

Gina Hall Sebastian Chase – Music Businessman and Manager

Michela Ledwidge – Artist / Entrepreneur / Technologist

Pollenizer – Digital Media Company

Vasili Kaliman – Contemporary Art Dealer / Event Organiser and Online Publisher

Remember the Milk – Digital Media / Web App builders

David Holloway – Editor / Virtual World Creator Design Crowd – Online Graphic Design

Nick Holmes A Court – Buzz Numbers / Online Entrepreneur

Andrew Vande Moere – Architecture & Urban Design, Professor at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Luke Metcalfe – Internet Entrepreneur

Gary Hayes – CCO at MUVEDesign / Transmedia Educator