CREATIVESATWORK
10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY
Message by Jayce Tham,
Co-founder of CreativesAtWork
When we first started
CreativesAtWork
Both Fanny and myself were driven by an aspiration to give deserving creative talents a platform to shine. Our wish was simple then, to give every freelancer the opportunity to freelance for as long as they want. At that time, however, there was a lot of uncertainty; the 2010s was a period of disruption and it was easy for something that didn’t exist 5 years ago to upend or change your way of work, life, and play. The pragmatic Singaporean in me was prepared to head back to corporate life if things didn’t work out.
Ultimately,
the belief in empowerment from freelancing as a way of life and the purposeful journey of CAW prevailed; I never looked back at corporate life again.
10 years on,
we are staring down at 3,000 projects (and counting), a book, a podcast series, a documentary in the works, and our very own training platform To us, the most gratifying milestone is being able to grow our pool of creative freelancers from 84 to 1,500. Together, we have produced work for notable clients who are stalwarts in their fields and walked the journey of growth with many others. From handling their specialized projects, we have developed long-term relationships with clients such as Grab, SMRT, Samsung, Lazada, BBC, Alcon, and more.
In
celebrating
our 10th
anniversary,
We would like to express our deepest appreciation to our freelancers who share our philosophy and vision as well as partnering clients who have vested their trust in our ability to deliver quality work. Also, not forgetting our partners, who have journeyed along our side to professionalise the local freelance industry.
In the past few years,
technology has continued to transform how we create our work and connect with our audiences. We continue to be inspired by how we could tap on connections, fresh ideas, and digitalisation to nurture an ecosystem that empowers our creatives to do good work and create value for our clients.
For the first 10 years,
we dedicated our effort and time on getting jobs for freelancers. For the next decade, we will focus on building up the businesses of our freelancers. We are excited about initiatives in the pipeline and can’t wait to share them as we stride into our next decade with you.
OUR STORY
2012
CAW embarked on its journey with 84 freelancers with the skill set in broadcasting
2014
With more than 1,000 independent creative professionals we expanded our scope to cover the full range of creative services, reaching
$2 million in billing.
2014
Launched Our First
Coffee Talk Series
We launched our first Coffee Talk series where we discussed various topics that impact freelancers.
2015
50N50
In celebration of Singapore's 50th Birthday, CreativesAtWork and our partners to launch 50N50– a community collaboration project showcasing Singapore’s creative talents across multiple platforms. A first of its kind, the multi-platform project aims to invoke and strengthen the identity of Singaporeans by tracing Singapore’s evolution from a post-war colony 50 years ago to a thriving first-world nation today.
50N50 featured creative works revolving around 10 different themes, ranging from HDB to transport to education to economy to people and more. A joint initiative by CreativesAtWork, JellyFarm Studios, and HISTORY (Official TV partner), supported by SG50 Celebration Fund, 50N50 provides a valuable opportunity for the local creative talents to demonstrate their works and bring the international spotlight to the great places, people, and food in Singapore. The webisodes were shown on HISTORY and its on-demand platform.
2016
PROMAX AWARD “BE SCHOOLED“
We got our first Promax Award for a 13 episode sports series "Be Schooled", which also a finalist in New York film and TV Festival under Best Sports Programme.
2016
Launch of Freelancing 101 Workshop
The Freelancing 101 workshop was launched to help creatives advance their freelancing career at every level. The success of our first 2-day workshop gave us the impetus to strengthen our offering. Since then, it has gone on to train over 200 graduates from the programme, across a range of freelance creatives and industries.
2017
Regional Projects
With the launch of our proprietary onboarding process for the curation of freelancers, we branched into regional projects.
2018
Freelancing Original Content
We released our freelancing documentary and Asia’s First Freelancing Podcast.
2019
Storeys – Short Film Showcase
We showcased 15 original impactful stories to drive positive social change. Through this initiative, we hoped to showcase the talents of our freelance pool and highlight the importance of storytelling in creative space.
2020
Online Training Workshop
Due to the pandemic, we took our Coffee Talk sessions online so that our freelance talent pool can continue upskilling. Since the start of COVID, we have completed more than 10 online training workshops.
2020
Bridge
We launched BRIDGE to support freelancers and small businesses and push them towards new opportunities during covid.
Over 200 freelancers learned new skills, and developed new ways to make income while 30 SME's tried a new marketing approach for the first time. They realized that investing in themselves and freelancers can be good for business. We were able to deliver work, that in terms of commercial value, was 3-5 times the budget. Some of the freelancers got extended work arrangements with these SMEs.
2020
Launch of “The Business of Freelancing“
We launched a book as one of our initiatives to teach and guide global freelancers. The book is available on Amazon and can also be found at the Kinokuniya bookstore. Learn more about our book here: amzn.to/33mJQf1
2021
Thriving Singapore
Thriving Singapore was an immersive Virtual Exhibition and an engaging series of creative workshops.
Launched by, CreativesAtWork, and creative studio, ALH Studio, and supported by National Arts Council, this ground-up initiative brought together 14 local artists and practitioners to showcase their works, and bring the community on an imaginative journey to explore local creativity and culture.
More than 30 original artworks – digital art, digitised paintings, photography, created by the artists were showcased.
2022
2022
Network Growth to 1500 Freelancers
CAW’s network of freelancers has grown to 1,500 creatives possessing skill sets in Writing, Video Productions, Illustrations, Designing, Voiceovers, and more.
2022
Freelancing Bootcamp
We will be launching our elearning platform to extend the reach of the Freelance Bootcamp 101 in late 2022. Check it out here: https://freelancingbootcamp.com/
Upcoming Milestones
Freelancers Collective NFT
Execute App
Freelancing 101 Learning Platform
Freelancer Nation
The Business of Freelancing Comic