The Team

After struggling as a child with severe dyslexia I left school feeling that I wouldn’t be of much value in the workplace.

Regardless of this I was fortunate to have a wide and varied early career. I trained to be a nursery nurse, where I was able to use creativity and play to enrich the lives of local children.

I moved to London to become a community dance artist, studying at the prestigious Laban Centre for Contemporary Dance and then, in my early twenties, founded Tandem Dance, a participatory arts company organising and delivering projects to diverse audiences across the North East.

I became qualified as a Community Development Worker where my interest in entrepreneurship and community economic regeneration work began. I worked for a cooperative development organisation and supported the development of the UK’s first social firms owned and controlled by disabled people.

I subsequently set up my own freelance business providing consultancy to organisations wanting to support social entrepreneurship in its many guises.

It was throughout this period that I realised that that the qualities I was valued for stemmed from my neurodiversity and in many respects reflect those of entrepreneurs and that they hadn’t been a hindrance in the workplace, they had been my own supper power. My capacity to generate ideas, see new opportunities, create in adversity, be tenacious, and, thrive in uncertainty has not only been of immense value to myself but also to those I have worked with. They have been the reason I have always been able to generate an income from the things I feel passionate about whilst adding value in the wider world at the same time.

After completing an Ma in Entrepreneurship at Durham University I founded Create North along with my partner Dave Howarth.

Create North has enabled me to immerse myself in the two things I’m most passionate about creativity and entrepreneurship – demonstrate that combining the too – make amazing thing happen.

Here at Create North I work with our teams to design and deliver many of the enterprise programmes. I work with our funders and commissioners to ensure that our programmes meet their aims and aspirations, with the resources available in time.

I love to work directly with participants and host events, deliver workshops and providing one to one mentoring and advise in areas such as enterprise skills development, innovation and ideas generation, strategic thinking, networking, stakeholder engagement, fund raising and planning for growth.

Examples of programmes I have designed and delivered over the years are; Making It and Creative Cities for Newcastle City Council; Opportunity on a Plate Dinners, for Mushroom Works CIC; What a Difference a Day Makes; Collaborate to Innovate, for the Third Sector Capacity Fund; Durham Creatives, for Durham County Council: The Fifth Size Book Adventure, a collaboration with Newcastle Library funded by ACE, Barking, a celebration of dogs in art, Amble Board Walk, a cultural regeneration initiative, Yet to be Named, a post Covid creative festival for artists, Creativity Works, a place making project funded with CLLD and ACE monies.

After many years, I’ve become a sort of elder of Create North which is a way of saying that, happily, its genius and energy lie elsewhere in the company so I can still make ad hoc contributions as and when it’s fun and useful for me to do so.

Being a part of the world of enterprise is not really a vocation so much as a way of life, so knocking it on the head at a pensionable age makes no more sense than, say, an artist or creator strictly confining themselves to a 40 hour week. Ideas still flow so, although I’ll be starting no more boat businesses on the Tyne, I’m deeply attached to the notion that there may yet be a launch or two ahead of me still.

Working with Create North:

It’s a happy place to be and being able to continue to contribute to others finding the same fulfilment and pleasure as I have found in enterprise will never cease to be anything but immensely rewarding.

Socials/Contact:

dave@createnorth.co.uk

Having told my Dad that I wanted a “proper” job after University and that “anyway, he couldn’t afford to put me through a fashion degree”, I went on to study Human Cybernetics (imagine a cross between engineering and a billion other things and move swiftly on to it being about how systems work) before training as an accountant. I worked for a decade or so, focussing on how to access information and learn from it and did some pretty cool globetrotting, before deciding that I wanted something else from my life…and finally paid attention to my Dad.

I returned to university to study Contemporary Textiles Practice at, what is now, the Northern School of Art. After a brief hiatus in the middle to give birth to twins, I graduated and went on to set up my own business designing and making jewellery. This is when I first encountered Create North – becoming one of their clients!

Move forward a couple of years, my kids started school and I began working for The Auckland Project running their creative business support programme (among a few other things). Then Covid hit and, like many, I was made redundant. Bizarrely this opened doors for me and has got me to where I am today.

I now work on a predominantly freelance basis:

• developing projects and writing funding bids,
• undertaking project evaluation for third sector organisations, supporting them to learn and grow from their experiences and to communicate their narrative to funders/commissioners effectively in order to facilitate access to future opportunities.
• working as a creative producer, with a particular focus on enabling arts projects working with groups of people or tackling topics that many others would classify as being “difficult”. This reflects my strong belief that creativity is for everyone and that having “permission” and time to be creative can be life changing.

I have worked with organisation such as RTProjects and Creative Youth Opportunities to develop projects and write funding bids. For both, this has brought in some of the largest grants they have received to date and for Creative Youth Opportunities has made a marked difference in the scale and complexity of grant that they feel comfortable applying for.

A key project developed for Creative Youth Opportunities was Missing Women for which I was also Creative Producer. This led to significant new stakeholder and funder relationships for them along with important new project opportunities.

I have undertaken evaluation work for organisations such as Changing Relations, Make Music Day UK and Generator, including the development of evaluation frameworks to support their capacity to undertake high quality evaluation themselves independently.

As you can see, like many in the field, I work on a portfolio basis – Create North being one of my key homes.

Create North has a small core team and we work collaboratively to make the most of our individual strengths to deliver initiatives.

I’m have a passion for synthesising large amounts of information and ideas and then shaping a cohesive narrative from these. Combined with a strong understanding of the environment that creatives are working in, these skills are used to support Jane in defining the strategic direction of Create North and designing and developing new initiatives.

Over the past decade and more I have built a wide network across the creative sector. This is used within Create North both to open up opportunities to participants and to support stakeholder development and the creation of new initiatives.

Create North draws on my financial background and project development/ bid writing experience to deliver some of our training for participants, enabling them to benefit from specialist knowledge and understanding.

My breadth of background is also made use of to provide one to one and group mentoring. This is one of the roles that I most enjoy as it combines the need for both high levels of reflection and an ability to think quickly and coherently on the spot.

I’m a bit of a word fanatic, and one of my joys is supporting Jane with the challenges that severe dyslexia brings. Being a neurodiverse team has its challenges and opportunities – but I think the really powerful thing living this day to day brings, is the knowledge that lots of people we work with face similar challenges and opportunities…and this just feels normal to us. We expect to make adjustments to help make what we do accessible.

I also bring lots of smiles, hugs and a lot of swearing – these skills are not to be underestimated in a small business.

What do I love about working for Create North?

I love getting to work with Jane and Rob. We laugh a lot.

But beyond that? I love the buzz of getting to work with so many amazingly talented creative people. I love how I get to help extend connection and confidence in the creative community. I love how I get to experience beautiful work and hear the story behind it first-hand. I love being able to encourage people in their hard times and celebrate with them in their good. I love being with people on their creative journey and getting to enjoy it vicariously. Maybe this can be summarised as loving the way it embeds me within the wider creative community – but I feel this is probably underselling it!

Rob has worked in the creative sector in the Northeast for nearly 20 years. He is an experienced Festival Director, Venue Manager, Fundraiser, Events Manager and Musician. Rob has worked with Create North since 2020, helping to deliver the Creativity Works project in South Durham. Outside of his work with us, Rob is Co-Director of Make Music Day UK, Senior Advisor to the International Make Music Alliance, a board member for Making Music and a School Governor. He runs three community choirs in County Durham. Rob’s previous roles include time as Acting Head of Cultural Services at Middlesbrough Council, Manager of Middlesbrough Town Hall and Event Manager for Middlesbrough Mela, Middlesbrough Music Live and Durham’s Brass Festival.

Specialisms – Strategic Business Planning | Music Programming | Funding | Budget Management | Project/Event Planning and Management | Audience Development | Risk/SWOT Analysis

Having graduated from Sheffield University with a history degree, I delved into the realm of heritage preservation at Redhills Miner’s Hall. As a project manager, I collaborated with a dedicated team of volunteers, meticulously cataloguing, and preserving the diverse curiosities and artifacts the organization had amassed over the years. Our efforts aimed to secure this cultural treasure trove for future generations, a task that involved documenting over one and a half thousand different objects and going through copious amounts of bubble wrap.

Once the task at Redhills was accomplished, I transitioned to Create North in 2023, where I found my niche in project management. Outside of work, I can usually be found at the climbing gym, or immersed in the latest video game release.

My work: 

I am a documentary photographer and filmmaker from Horden, Co Durham. I have a degree in Photography and Film from Sunderland University. I work from my studio in Co Durham.

Much of my work focuses on communities in East Durham – pit villages which are often described as ‘marginalised’ communities. Through my extensive work in them I have built up relationships and become trusted, working with communities that are otherwise sceptical of outsiders. I have also documented England’s busiest food bank and I’ve examined issues of migration, alongside refugees and asylum seekers in Stoke and undertaken a project about deindustrialisation in Rochdale.

I create documentaries using both still and moving images and share the work in the communities they’re created, either through exhibitions or public screenings. I have produced films supported by leading documentary organisation Amber Films, and worked in collaboration with academics from Manchester Metropolitan and Durham Universities to produce visual anthropologies on post-industrial communities, young peoples’ mental health problems and ethnicity. I have also collaborated extensively with other artists, arts organisations charities and schools. For the past 3 years I’ve worked in SEND schools across the UK to document how SEND curriculums are being taught to children with multiple and profound learning disabilities as well as Autism.

Working with Create North:

What I love about working with Create North is the freedom I get when I am working on one of their projects. Create North understand the importance of preserving artists’ creative authenticity. I’ve also been given the opportunity to work with many talented practitioners through the varied programs they engage with, which has been beneficial in many ways for my personal and professional development.

Socials/Contact: 

Website https://www.carljoyce.com/

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/carl_joyce/

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/carljoycefilms

Copy about Betty here

My work: 

With 8 years of freelancing experience, a 1^st class Computer Science degree and founding a limited company in 2022 to start expanding, I have worked with a plethora of website & mobile app technologies, and I have recently ventured into the Microsoft Power Platform, becoming a certified consultant. Leveraging this expertise, I have begun building robust internal systems for businesses like Create North to leverage. There’s some sprinkles of network engineering and general IT work in there too for good measure! I love getting my teeth stuck into a big project with a client whose goals I believe in!

Working with Create North

No matter the project, the team are always coming up with new and exciting ways to support their audience and they are always super friendly while doing it. I just know it’s going to be a good day if I’m working on a project with Create North.

Socials/Contact: 

Website https://medievalsnail.com

(NB this is due to launch this Autumn)

Email daniel@danielfern.co.uk

My work: 

I run the award-winning Durham-based consultancy, Stride Pr and I love helping businesses and organisations raise their profiles with a mix of strategic communications and good story telling.

Working with Create North:

As a creative, (I will finish that novel one day!) I particularly love working with imaginative and talented people – just like the peeps at Create North. Their think-outside-of-the-box approach to their wonderful projects is right up my street.

Socials/Contact:

https://www.stridepr.co.uk/

X – @stridepr

My work: 

I am a writer and creative practitioner based in Durham. I started out working as a lecturer and delivering skills training then moved into student support before deciding that working creatively with people and at unexpected tangents was my “thing”. I love working with and learning from individuals and groups across all sorts of backgrounds and experiences, and have collaborated with songwriters, animators, outdoor artists, printmakers, photographers and filmmakers. I’ve created workshops and pop-up events across the North-East and beyond, with a range of primary and secondary schools, community groups and charities: with people experiencing poor mental and/or physical health, homelessness, isolation as new mothers or as older people, and those living with uncertainty as refugees or asylum seekers. I relish mentoring aspiring writers and creative practitioners, and have acted as a lay adviser to the Durham University Institute of Medical Humanities, and produced podcasts as Associate Artist with The Poetry Exchange.

I am passionate about the role of writing in giving people a space to be heard. My own writing engages with the challenge of finding a voice through experiences of abuse, mental health struggles and motherhood: not shying away from difficult questions yet celebrating the extraordinary in the ordinary and everyday.

In 2019 I received an Arts Council England Developing Your Creative Practice Award to focus on my writing and develop my work with new mothers experiencing poor mental health and with women in prison. In 2021 I was chosen for a Northern Writers’ Award. My poems have been widely published nationally and internationally, and my first collection, Safety Measures Against the Sea, was published by Vane Women Press in 2023. I am currently developing my second collection, entitled The Etymology of Hope, considering the role and spaces of care in all its forms.

Working with Create North:

I believe wholeheartedly in creative writing as a way to challenge, include and inspire. In all my work, I like to make a space where people can play with words, images and ideas, where voices can be heard and ideas burst out. I love working with Create North for their adventurous, can-do attitude and the variety of people they engage and light up.

My work: 

Moving Art Management is a producing company who support artists with a range of projects and events, bringing new cultural opportunities to communities in the UK and touring internationally. We design and deliver work which is co-created with participants, communities and local stakeholders, ensuring the work is made with, by and for those who seek to engage with high quality arts and culture in their communities. Dance is our vehicle for transforming individual growth, through in person interactions, skills development, entertainment and new perspectives, education and learning, as well as the enriching process that comes from movement and the benefits it brings to both the mind, body and spirit. This includes classes, workshops, performance opportunities, focus-groups, photography, documenting and reviewing. We also offer mentoring, shadowing and placement opportunities for those interested in developing careers in the creative industries. We have a strong track record engaging community groups of all ages and backgrounds in our work, from children and young people, to adults with learning disabilities and people with refugee and asylum seeker status.

Working with Create North:

We highly value our collaborative partnership with Create North due to the strong alignment of our respective ethos and objectives. Our mutual dedication to fostering creativity, promoting diversity, and driving innovation within the arts community is a cornerstone of our collaborative efforts.

Socials/Contact: 

www.movingartmanagement.com

@Moving_art_management (Instagram)

@MovingArtManagement (Facebook)

@Moving_Art_Man (Twitter)

My work: 

I have a diverse background ranging from delivering creative lessons in secondary schools to serving as a qualified university professor with expertise in creative business, trend development, and fashion communication entrepreneurship. Since the inception of TICE in 2008, I have integrated educational, industry, and community-focused initiatives worldwide, specifically tailored towards preparing young people for careers in the creative, design, and digital sectors.

I additionally work at Northumbria University as an Assistant Professor in BA (Hons) Fashion Communication and am an HEA Fellow. I have a BA (Hons) Fashion Marketing and a Masters in Arts, Business & Creativity.

Working with Create North:

Working with imaginative and innovative individuals is a great experience, especially when engaged in projects that are meaningful. It’s a joy to collaborate with people who have a shared sense of purpose.

Socials/Contact: 

Website: https://www.thisistice.com/

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferbarrett-tice
Instagram: @thisistice

Facebook: @thisistice

Twitter: @thisistice

My work: 

Maria is a multi disciplinary artist and designer born in Durham. She is an alumna of the Northern School of Art and the Royal College of Art, studying surface design and printed textiles. Since graduating in 2007 she has worked as a print designer for H&M, Dame Zandra Rhodes and Orla Kiely designing across many categories, bags, clothing, home textiles, ceramics and furniture. Maria returned to Durham in 2019 where she currently works part time for Orla Kiely and has a studio space at Ushaw Historic house where she is developing her own practice. Joyous colour and the handmade process is the main focus of Maria’s practice, translating her drawings through stencil screen printing and paper mache. Her bold visual language draws on varied influences from postmodern art and design, 80s pop culture, 50’s textiles, 60’s graphic design to children’s books.

Working with Create North:

Working with Create North is always a pleasure. Since returning to the North East, they have welcomed me into their creative community. They facilitate opportunities to work with and network with like-minded creatives.

Their events/workshops/opportunities always feel relevant and contemporary without being intimidating, bringing people together in interesting ways.

Socials/Contact: 

Insta: from.coopers.studio

My work: 

Whenever I tell people I’m a singer, people tell me approximately  six hundred reasons precisely why they cannot sing. This fired me up so much that my main creative practice is distracting people from their singing hang ups long enough for them to discover their new powerful creative voice (that’s been buried in there all along).

I’ve got over 30 years performance experience, and my trusty native Blackpool sparkle which has never left (even though these days you’re much more likely to find me in a field in a wax jacket, having a ‘who can get muddiest quickest?’ competition with the dog!) I love helping people in my studio at TCR Hub and in schools, out and about in our community and internationally through my online community of courageous people who like making a noise.

Working with Create North:

Create North are like that friend you have who always suggests something fun and unusual to do. I’ve made some of my best friends and my best work whilst at Create North events, which are better described as parties full of people you actually want to talk to!

Socials/Contact: 

www.happyinharmonymusic.co.uk

Facebook: @happyinharmony1

Instagram: @happyinharmony1

My work: 

Lady Kitt is a Disabled installation artist, researcher and mentor describing their work as “mess making as social glue, driven by insatiable  curiosity about how art can be useful”. They generally work on long term, community projects which often include the co-creation of large-scale, vibrant installations made from recycled paper, reused plastics and raw clay, which Kitt calls shrines.

Kitt is a trustee for “Crafts Council UK”, co-lead of “Social Art Network North East”, working group member for “Culture, Health & Wellbeing Alliance” and “MIMA” (Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art) advisory board member. Kitt’s work has been longlisted for the 2023 Aesthetica Art Prize (for “The Good Books”), won a North East Culture Awards (“kin collective”, 2022) and the VAMHN Art Award (“Justice Recitations” 2022).  Their work has been shown at Atlanta Contemporary (USA), Saatchi Gallery (UK), and commissioned by UP Projects (London), Arts&Heritage (Northumberland) and BALTIC (Gateshead).

Working with Create North:

Create North is such a positive, exciting part of the North East cultural ecosystem. I love their focus on building relationships and sharing skills,  and the fun, creative and open approaches to everything they do!

Socials/Contact: 

Website: https://www.lladykitt.com/about

Mentoring info: https://www.lladykitt.com/mentoring

IG: @lady_kitt1

X: @Lady Kitt

FB: @ladykittartist

My work: 

I am a photographer and create pictures with and without a camera, which is probably now my signature theme. With a camera is mainly straight digital photography e.g. documentary but also more abstract arty images where I break the usual rules of photography to create Light Paintings. A selection of these Light Paintings were recently exhibited in the Bishop Auckland Town Hall Strong Room and feedback was very pleasing. Without a camera pieces are created with the vintage Cyanotype printing process.

I am very grateful to Create North for supporting me in this work with a 2 day workshop at No42 last year. To date my Cyanotype workshops seem to be really well received and enjoyed by participants, some of whom have been to more than one.

In addition to this, thanks to my husband’s support and his creative design and practical skills, I now have a portable Camera Obscura which is a realisation of my vision to create this historical optical device for sharing. I’ve nurtured the idea for several years and finally pinned it down last year and did a short tester installation at Auckland Castle, thanks to TAP’s Tam Mayor’s interest and enthusiasm for my vision and dream to set up in the Castle grounds. It went down so well last year that we set up there for all of August this summer. It was a great hit with nearly 1000 visitor’s experiencing the historical way of viewing the outside inside the dark chamber. I am very passionate about the Camera Obscura and love introducing people of all ages to its history and experience. I love their amazed and joyful responses to what they see.

I enjoy exhibiting my work, which I do for the love of my art, it’s not lucrative but very affirming to know people have enjoyed what they see. This year I’ve exhibited at Greenfield Arts, Bishop Auckland Town Hall Strong Room (with a booking for next year too), Bowlees Visitor Centre (also for next year too) and Redcar Contemporary Art Gallery Open Exhibition. Having returned to photography in my later life, after a full career in teaching and social work, then completing an MA Photography because I had a passion to learn about photography theory and practice, exhibiting, workshopping and sharing my passion for the craft is an absolute bonus. I appreciate the part Create North has had in providing opportunities to explore and learn further.

Working with Create North:

I have really appreciated the opportunities Create North has given me to attend workshops delivered by various artists, as well as those that help with ideas for working. This has introduced me to a wider network of artists and practices.

My work: 

Nick is a purpose driven experienced design led facilitator and practioner with 30 years’ experience of product, digital and service design led innovation in public, social and private sector organisations. Nick uses design thinking to identify and solve problems and react to opportunities. You can see example of my work here:

vimeo.com/347336509

www.youtube.com/watch?v=excMqR_0ajQ

Working with Create North:

Working with Create North is always a creative experience, I always learn something new!

Socials/Contact: 

nick@innovationscout.co.uk

0771429424

www.linkedin.com/in/nick-devitt-743a071/

My work: 

I am a freelance Graphic and Web Designer based in Eaglescliffe, North East England. Previously I was a designer for over five years at a creative agency in Middlesbrough before I became freelance in October 2009. I love clever, memorable concepts and clean design.

Specialties: Graphic Design, Web Design, Branding, Corporate Identities, Marketing Campaigns, Mailchimp/Hubspot email templates

When I work on projects I see design as a communication tool. I always try to keep the message clear and visually interesting as I want the reader to easily be able to understand what it is.

Working with Create North:

I worked with the Create North team on the Barking outdoor exhibition which was really interesting seeing all of the artwork. I wanted to create some playfulness to the boards so we had a suite of dogs coupled with bright colours to give them a sense of fun. The team were great in the initial design stage helping with feedback and ideas.

Socials/Contact: 

www.irvingcreative.com/

X: @AmyIrving