Over the years, many people have asked Cultural Enterprise Office if we could provide a professional, online network for creative people. Somewhere they would have the opportunity to engage with people in other sectors with different working styles and skills. The main aim is to bring together Scottish creatives from across the disciplines; to afford strength in numbers and to provide a picture of the thriving Scottish creative community. From this solid base, we can look outward, internationally, for collaboration and new audiences.     Common = anyone can play     A large playing field will open up for collaboration     Turf = ownership, privacy and a safe haven     A private place to store your objects, hide out and invite collaborators There are already many sites that provide networks and collaborative spaces for distinct creative and cultural sectors. However, more and more of the people who come to us are either working across the sectors or wanting to. The benefits to be had from widening the opportunity for engagement with other industries has driven the need for this website. It’s Already a Community Project To question how the website should work, nine people were brought together in 2007 including: a film-maker, playwright, theatre director, social enterpreneur, communications & graphic designer, curator, musician, public & urban regeneration artist and a visual artist. They were a mix of new graduates, fledgling companies and seasoned freelancers from across Scotland. Development We’d like to develop a ‘common gateway’ to other existing networks. By developing Common Turf within an open framework, we hope to make it easy for other networks to connect to us and other sites. If you run your own creative industries network or are interested in being involved in the framework decisions at this stage, find out more about how you can contribute on the join the development discussion page.	Common Turf = the all-encompassing bit... ... the jam
Common Turf was devised and is being developed and managed by