A SCHEME aimed at providing financial support for small and medium-sized businesses working in the cultural sector is reaping rewards.

Carolyn Corfield, 56, a Darlington artist and sculptor, will be one of 25 cultural businesses exhibiting at a creative industries event on Wednesday, September 25.

Business leaders attending the exhibition at Bede's World in Jarrow, South Tyneside, will be able to see examples from the region's successful creative industries market.

All the exhibitors have benefited from the Cultural Business Venture (CBV), a collaborative scheme between development agency One NorthEast, Northern Arts and the North-East operation of The Prince's Trust. The scheme is part of a larger programme of investment which includes European Regional Development Fund support.

It aims to increase the viability of creative businesses, to encourage job creation and provide support for overall growth of the creative industries market in the North- East.

The scheme has invested more than £480,000 in the region's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the last year.

Ms Corfield said: "The CBV grant has enabled me to move into a wider exhibition arena, promoting my artwork on a national scale. I'm seeking to continuously develop within the ceramics marketplace."

She gathers her creative inspiration from ancient cultures, and since childhood, legends and mythology have fired her imagination.

The ingredients are taken from the richness of patterning and textures of early civilisation.

She said: "I make these particular sculptures to satisfy my creative urge and to fulfil my own personal dreams."

Mark Adamson, of Northern Arts, said: "The CBV scheme provides an excellent opportunity for creative businesses, either during start-up or, to develop their ongoing business ideas and plans.

"The scheme was initially set up to address the real lack of funding available to businesses, but it was also recognised that many would benefit from appropriate business advice and guidance."