Slow Clap launches Australian-first Creative Connector Portal

Melbourne PR and music management company Slow Clap has officially launched Australia's first creative outsourcing network to connect local artists with freelance creatives.

Funded through last year's Creative Victoria Music Industry Recovery Program grant, the Slow Clap Creative Connecter Portal serves to link creatives with music industry clients who require assets for upcoming projects or campaigns.

The portal allows for users to browse a range of creative services they require, such as photography, design, copywriting, animation, audio engineering and videography, and set their budget, references, deliverables and deadlines.

After the project brief has been submitted on the portal, clients are then aligned to an appropriate creative via Slow Clap, sourced from the platform's tool of registered freelancers.

Slow Clap founder Cara Williams said the concept of the Creative Connector Portal was devised after she noticed a divide between artists and the freelance creative sector during last year's lockdown.

“During lockdown last year, I received an influx of PR inquiries from artists who’d spent their downtime writing and recording new music but hadn’t taken the next vital step in engaging creatives to work on their campaign assets," Williams explained.

"Most didn’t know anyone to work with, or were totally unaware of the type of content they needed for the next stage of their release. On the other hand, I was watching as a lot of my creative friends who weren’t eligible for JobKeeper struggled to source new work and earn an income.

"It was clear the creative sector needed some support, and I realised the music industry didn’t have a dedicated one-stop shop for artists to source all freelancers needed for their campaigns. So I got to work developing it.”

The Slow Clap Creative Connector Portal is open for both freelance creatives and agencies to join today, with more than 130 freelancers already registered on the platform upon launch.