Want to meet successful entrepreneurs and find out how they did it? Come along to CIDA’s Creative Links event on 22^nd August and do just that!

Organised by CIDA in partnership with the Shoreditch Fringe Festival and Base N Rebelz Entertainment, this event will feature guest speakers providing you with the perfect opportunity to hear from some of the UK’s most talented creative entrepreneurs discuss their paths to success. Panellists include Sketchy aka Matthew Thorne (web design/brand design), Rashid (Link Up TV), Phreeda Sharp (singer/songwriter) and Wade A. Jacks (filmmaker).

Get inspired, have a drink on us and network with like-minded people!

The event takes place at East Village Bar, 89 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch EC2A 3HX from 5.30pm – 9.30pm.

For more information, please email admin@cida.co.uk or call 020 7247 4710.

Wade A. Jacks hales from Manchester, where he started his working life as a draughtsman, before moving to London to seek a fortune as a curtain-ring sales man. Strangely unsuccessful, he happened to find himself capturing sound on a friends film, which he describes as ‘it was like falling toast landing butter side up, at last I’d found some order in the naturalness of things’. He started off by making a number of short drama’s and documentaries. Then by chance Wade become an assistant editor on a feature film before moving from the  industry into film school at Bournemouth, where he specialised in Direction and Writing, completing a successful comedy drama called “Same Same! But Different”, and a number of links for Meridian TV.

Back in London again, because of a short film Wade wrote called “Ride”, he got to co-write a proposed serial for BBC2, called “Rapid Eye Movement” and also completed an MA in screenwriting at the LCP with Phil Parker, writing a number of spec scripts for The Bill and a feature film entitled “Flexing”. 

At present, Wade is a film manger on Happy Soul Festival and founder and organiser of the Buffalo san Black & Asian short film festival. He is also teaching digital film making and pop video production, as well as putting together packages for a number of short documentary films and developing two feature films ‘F L E X I N G” and ‘Jumana –In search of David Attenborough’.

Phreeda Sharp is a half-Ghanaian/half-French rap artist who lives in East London. Born and raised in Ghana, Phreeda moved to the UK at a young age and fell in love with Hip-Hop when she first discovered The Roots, Jay Z and Missy Elliott. Phreeda then became a part of a funk band called Metis and when the band parted ways, she decided to pursue a solo career.

She has since been developing her sound and style and launched a series of online viral videos she calls “rap spills”. The videos have gone down incredibly well with her fans and club DJ’s and has created a great buzz around her. Her powerful image, individual style and original talent gives this innovative up and coming star an edge which sets her apart from the rest.

Phreeda is currently working on her new EP which she hopes will enable her to showcase herself as a rap artist as well as a songwriter. She describes the upcoming album as “pieces of me that happen to rhyme”. Often performing on stage with just an acoustic guitar or acapella, Phreeda’s feminine assassin-like aesthetic and penchant for rapping about the opposite sex in the same manner male rappers often do about their female counterparts, is quickly becoming one of the most intriguing female voices to emerge from the UK rap scene in a very long time.

Matt Thorne AKA Sketchy is an experienced multi-skilled designer, with a profound understanding of digital media techniques and design. Under the alias of SKETCHYMEDIA™, Matt has worked for brands such as SKY, History Channel, and Major record labels creating websites, graphics and digital content.

Matt has also freelanced on big film projects for companies such as Five33, working on delivering visuals for films such as “Real Steel”, “Marvel”, “Tron” and many more. In 2009, Matt co-founded the UK’s biggest urban music website, Grimedaily – both creatively designing and building the platform.

Matt’s skill-set as both a creative and a young business person, has lead him to establish a creative communications agency – BiG!, working to deliver engaging, creative and content, and aligning brands with “cool”. Matt’s clients include Converse, BBC, KSwiss, Sony Music, Island and many more.

Rashid Kasirye started Link Up TV, an online music and talent platform, straight out of college and has seen it grow from humble beginnings to a strong online community, which sees their YouTube page hitting over a million monthly views and thousands of fans on Facebook and Twitter.

Rashid has already seen the company make music videos for artists on some of the top UK music channels and his popularity is sure to keep growing in the industry. Link Up TV are planning on stepping up their video production capacity for 2012.