A NEW fund is set to provide thousands of pounds in grants to further grow the North-East's successful creative industries.

The Creative Jobs Fund will provide £150,000 of investment into the region's film, TV and digital media sector.

It includes £75,000 of European Regional Development Fund money, which will be match funded by participants in the scheme.

Yesterday's announcement of the fund, launched by regional film agency Northern Film & Media, came a week after a Government commissioned report highlighted the importance of the UK film industry to create jobs and stimulate inward investment.

Although Northern Film & Media's £2.4m creative content fund, which provided funding for projects that boosted the region's creative industries, completed its investments at the end of last year the organisation said the new cash was not a direct replacement.

The creative content fund helped bring a number of large scale film productions to the North-East including Pulp Fiction actor Tim Roth in The Liability; Song for Marion, starring Bond girl Gemma Arterton; The Man Inside, starring Peter Mullan; and Interview With A Hitman, starring Luke Goss.

The new fund is concentrated on immediately creating jobs in the sector by helping existing firms to expand through more modest grants of between £5,000 and £20,000.

It will look at 'ready-to-go' North East film, TV or digital media company expansion programmes or production projects that will create jobs in the region this spring.

It is aimed at helping firms which have struggled to attract investment from initiatives such as the Government's Regional Growth Fund.

Tom Harvey, chief executive of Northern Film & Media said: " If they are to be successful, they will have to demonstrate an ability to generate a significant amount of jobs.

"This pilot fund will test the ability of the sector to deliver on the outputs expected from larger initiatives such as the Regional Growth Fund."

Dan Brain, communications manager of Northern Film & Media added: "It is not a direct replacement, that was £2.4m, this is £75,000.

"We wanted to provide a fund that would help creative companies to expand.

"There are pots of money like the Regional Growth Fund where creative companies haven't been too successful, so we really wanted to see if there was something in a smaller fund dedicated to the creative industries."

In October, independent research showed the North-East's creative industries which recorded a 37.6 per cent increase in Gross Value Added (GVA) from 2005-10, now contributes £90.6m to the regional economy and employs 2,100 people.

Of that, film and television have the greatest economic impact, generating £58m per year and while nearly half of creative industry employees work in Newcastle and Gateshead, Darlington saw a 75 per cent growth in the five-year period and Hartlepool 50 per cent growth.

The deadline for submissions is February 8 and further details are available by emialing Joanna@northernmedia.org or roxy@northernmedia.org