Jannat is Editor-in-chief at Lucent Dreaming, an independent magazine and publisher of beautiful and surreal fiction, poetry and art from new and emerging authors/artists. She is also Subscriptions and Marketing Officer at Poetry Wales and herself a poet. She met the Creative Cardiff team when she successfully applied to be the first recipient of the Ymlaen! project.
She writes:
Lucent Dreaming would probably not exist today were it not for Creative Cardiff. I was fortunate at the end of 2017 to be interviewed for, and be the first recipient of, their pilot Ymlaen! scheme. I was based at Rabble Studio--one of Ymlaen’s creators--for six months, and received seed funding from Santander Universities, and business mentoring from the Creative Cardiff team, Rabble Studio members and the Enterprise team at Cardiff University. Creative Cardiff was much smaller then. Its office, tucked away down what felt like a lost set of stairs, was an unusual mixture of homely and exciting.
But it was the people at Creative Cardiff who made my experience so brilliant and rewarding. The people I spent time with during my placement helped me unlearn my self-sabotaging lack of confidence in creative pursuits and business. I learnt that, despite all the extraordinary things the people I met were doing in their creative worlds, these people were also ordinary too. It was reassuring seeing that creative people and businesses existed and thrived in Wales, and in the city. It was reassuring to have Creative Cardiff support me in becoming--still becoming-- one of them.
The Ymlaen! placement they designed transformed Lucent Dreaming from an online-only to a print magazine. With seed funding, I was able to put money into our first print run. (Every subsequent print run has been paid for by the previous issue’s sales.) Because the scheme was tailored for creative businesses, it bridged the gap between graduation and working creative life, but much more valuably, it gave me opportunities to meet and collaborate outside of my pre-existing not-very-creative world. Put simply, it really allowed me to be creative in Cardiff, something that my university experience didn’t always afford me.
Lucent Dreaming has now been running for more than three years. In that time –because of the magazine– I’ve dabbled in podcasting, public speaking, and putting on a musical. As a start-up, it was so valuable, having accessible expertise from, and conversations with, rooms full of other creatives. And as the placement scheme continues, I’m so excited to see it reach many more who, like me, will benefit from reaching the networks, mentors and guidance they need to turn their ideas into reality. Congratulations Creative Cardiff on five extraordinary years!
