A market with a difference has been popping up in Whitehaven.

Since June a monthly market on King Street has been taking place to give young people in the area the chance to sell their products and get a taste for retail.

However, the market - which also features music and entertainment as well as the opportunity to shop - is also part of a mentoring and grant scheme for fledgling businesses.

One business with a presence is Kultuur, a fashion brand started by musicians Alec Smith and Lewis Newton, which has the twin aim of selling clothes and raising money to support the UK’s creative industry.

Alec and Lewis, who perform together as acoustic duo Newton Smith, began developing the business last year and launched their first range of products in February.

The pair intend to donate 60 per cent of the profits they make from selling their various T-shirts, hoodies and hats to support creative projects.

“We’ve got a shared love of the arts and we wanted to find a way to give back to what we love,” says Lewis, 25.

The business - which operates as a social enterprise - will build a social impact fund to try and give young artists the kind of resources the pair wish they had when they were younger.

"We've got community projects going on at the moment where we essentially commissioned different artists to help us design some products, and we're working on grants and scholarship schemes for independent artists and dancers and things like that,” says Alec, 23.

The company has also launched an affiliate programme where artists can act as ambassadors for its clothing and then be paid a commission for sales. It recently signed up its first affiliate, actress and singer Adrianna Bertola, known for playing Sharice Brooks in Casualty.

In time, Alec and Lewis hope to be able to raise enough to run “cultural creative spaces”. These will be spaces which can be used by schools, youth groups and other organisations and filled with the equipment they need to experiment with different creative activities.

"It's just trying to bring a more creative city vibe to a small town like Whitehaven and it's all about inspiring the next generation and hopefully giving them the tools that we wish we had when we started out,” says Alec.

Their products are made in Bangladesh then hand-printed and finished by Lewis and Alec in Whitehaven.

“We've put a lot of time and effort into finding the right suppliers,” says Alec.

“They operate in a fully transparent ethical sustainable supply chain so everything's traceable from the picking of the cotton all the way through to the manufacturing of the garments. They're made from about 60 per cent to 80 per cent recycled material, they're fully recyclable, and they put a real focus on having a social strategy to reinvest into the areas that they do business in.”

Lewis says the products are packed in recycled cardboard with no plastic involved.

“We feel it’s really important that every company should really be as eco-friendly as they can, especially in somewhere like Cumbria,” he says.

At the moment the pair are concentrating on building sales from scratch and getting enough revenue to gradually expand the business.

"It's about growing it organically and getting the right audience because we were wary that you can go out there and buy followers and you could spend money on ads, but you're not necessarily reaching the right people,” says Alec.

“We've tried really hard to build a local following and an engaged following.”

Another organisation trying to help connect young people across Cumbria is Hollr, a multi-media platform that produces articles, videos and news while aiming to provide work experience and jobs for those looking to break into the creative industry.

Hollr lead Lucy Edwards, 21, says the idea grew out of Soundwave Cumbria, based in Workington, a charity which organises events and activities to nurture and encourage musical talent.

The project, which has been running for nearly four years, has recently attracted funding from Sellafield Ltd.

"We want to change the creative industry in Cumbria and make it more visible as a viable path in Cumbria because it's very STEM dominated here, or it can feel that way," says Lucy.

Hollr works with young creatives on projects such as documentaries to help them get work experience and Lucy hopes it will begin offering National Council for the Training of Journalists accredited training and qualifications in the near future.

The content it produces covers everything from a young male actor talking about the stigma surrounding masculinity in rural areas to a regular Creator of the Week article showcasing local creatives.

“We facilitate people's voices and give the Cumbrian youth a place to talk and build a sense of community,” says Lucy.

"We want to make Hollr a place where people can go into their dream careers without having to compromise and do something STEM-based.”

The young entrepreneurs’ market was the idea of Copeland Borough Council’s business liaison officer Jenny Brumby.

"When I started working for Copeland I knew this was something I'd love to do, to give people a platform to be able to sell their products, with a huge purpose to fill our high streets with new businesses,” she says.

She says lockdown has given many people time to develop business ideas at home, making now a particular good time to run the initiative.

Alongside the market, the Entrepreneurs Group, in Whitehaven - which provides mentoring for new businesses - has begun running a support programme on behalf of the council to nurture the start-ups. Entrepreneurs living in Copeland can also access a grant of £300 to help them get started.

"If they need advice on service, product development, creativity, marketing, then we can go and find the right people to mentor them through the next 12 months," says Jenny.

They can also have a market stall in the town for free for six to 12 months.

Jenny hopes the market’s presence in King Street - which has a number of empty shops - will support existing businesses there and perhaps inspire the start-ups to fill the spaces in the future.

The market is sponsored by Stainless Metalcraft, which recently won a £70m contract to supply metal storage boxes to Sellafield.

"We’re hoping that within the next six to eight months that we could replicate this in another town within Copeland," says Jenny.

"We could foresee over the next few years that this is just going to grow and grow. I've also had different councils in the UK contact me about the market project. So it's something that could be replicated throughout the country."