What's on Calendar

DEBATE, NETWORK, LUNCH.

Hosted by Creative Fuse and led by Create North as part of BoldlyGrow – an ambitious new growth programme for audacious women creatives. 

In 2018, the UK’s creative and cultural industries contributed £111.7 billion to the economy, equivalent to £306 million every day, yet the benefits of this economic success are not equally distributed.

The UK’s creative and design workforce is incredibly male-dominated, young female creatives are hugely lacking in senior role models and – although far more women than men study creative arts subjects – a far smaller proportion of women go into creative jobs or start creative businesses after graduation. Change is needed.  

“Gender equality is a core principle of the European Union, but it is not yet a reality” 

President Ursula von der Leyen.

This event will consider the broader global context of women’s entrepreneurship and innovation, before looking specifically at recent research and recommendations around gender disparity in the creative and cultural sectors across Europe and the UK.

As a group, we will explore how we can apply these recommendations in practice to accelerate the growth of women-led creative businesses in our region. The outputs of our discussion will be recorded and shared with partners across the sector as part of the BoldlyGrow programme.

 Lunch will be provided, with ample time for networking after the debate, and an overview of the BoldlyGrow programme will be given by Wendy Parvin of Creative Fuse. 

Creative practitioners, commissioners, funders, leaders of heritage and cultural organisations, researchers, policymakers and sector supporters are warmly welcomed to attend, to enable a rich discussion and ensure mutually beneficial networking for all.