Children's arts and crafts provider locates to North East business hub

A national provider of children’s arts and crafts classes, and creative events has relocated to a North East business hub following a period of growth.

ARTventurers, founded by Forbes writer Fiona Simpson in 2011, has moved into a new head office at the North East Business and Innovation Centre (BIC).

Hosting colourful and creative art classes for babies, toddlers and children across the UK, the company now has 35 franchisees from Inverness down to Essex and has grown rapidly over recent years since franchising its business model and securing three consecutive ‘What’s On 4 Kids Awards’.

Fiona commented said: “What really inspired me to launch ARTventurers was a desire to do something that was rewarding and creative, as well as providing me with the flexibility of working at a time and place that suited me and my family.

“I’d always had a passion for arts and having made the decision to set up my own business, I began hosting art classes for babies and pre-schoolers in my local church hall in Ashbrooke and before I knew it, word started to spread, and I found myself receiving enquiries from across the North East.

“This led me to explore the idea of franchising. At first, it was a difficult decision to make, as I needed to be confident that ARTventurers would be successful with other people delivering sessions outside of our local area.

“But following a successful trial period with three branches in different parts of the country, I soon realised it wasn’t as daunting a prospect as I’d first thought and an ARTventurers franchise model could offer fantastic opportunities for other people to build flexible, creative businesses in their own local areas.”

While the pandemic proved a huge challenge for entrepreneurs, Fiona was no different as she found herself having to juggle the cancellation of in-person classes and events; helping her franchise team to go online with their classes and parties and develop additional income streams while keeping the business afloat.

However, once she had navigated the many complexities of lockdown restrictions, Fiona received an unsuspecting lift by the increasing number of people seeking careers that offered a better work-life balance.

In order to cater for the company’s continued growth, Fiona made the decision to relocate to a new head office late last year and after being introduced to the team at the North East BIC – decided to relocate to the centre in early January.