Creative Growth Hull & East Yorkshire is recruiting for its next two cohorts
Creative businesses in Hull and East Yorkshire are being encouraged to sign up to a programme that promises to help them use great ideas to expand. Creative Growth Hull & East Yorkshire has already brought together 60 businesses to learn from experts and is now recruiting for its next two rounds.
The sixth cohort will launch early next month at the University of Hull Business School. Over 12 weeks it will cover eight practical workshops, investment diagnostics, introduction to peer networks and networking.
Entrepreneurs working in range of creative industries – from advertising to translation services – are being sought for the fully funded programme. Participants must have been operating for at least two years and making a profit and employ at least two people.
Programme organisers plan to introduce new participants to businesses which have already completed the programme at an event on Tuesday, October 7 at Ferens Art Gallery in Hull. Companies that enrol can expect to cover topics such as buyer behaviour, financial growth and investment pitching.
Andrew Richardson, the programme manager at the HEY Business Growth and Skills Hub, said: “Our key message to businesses in the region’s creative industries has been to learn from those who have experienced the programme. They can then decide whether they want support to develop growth plans, advice on finding new markets and contracts, or help with understanding the finance and investment opportunities that might be the right routes forward for their specific business. There has also been a number of new collaborations launched between businesses who first met by taking part in the programme.”
Joseph Cox, creative director of Form Shop & Studio in Humber Street, Hull, exhibited in May at the Creative Pitch exhibition and conference held at the MKM Stadium. He said the programme is helping the business expand from a retail outlet to a wholesaler which will send products – many of them bearing iconic Hull brands and landmarks – nationwide and across the world.
Joseph said: “The shop is doing really well and we are happy with that but we also had a vision to build the wholesale side, move beyond the Hull products and create things around music and pop culture. Creative Growth gave us the opportunity to look at the business, my artwork, merchandise and designs, and develop that as a project. There are only three of us in the business and we open seven days a week but the programme has helped us take the time to consider where we are and think about the business and the next steps.”
The Creative Growth Hull and East Yorkshire programme is being delivered by the HEY Business Growth and Skills Hub in partnership with Hull City Council, East Riding of Yorkshire Council, and the University of Hull. Businesses that enrol in cohorts six and seven – with the latter starting in January 2026 – will be given the chance to exhibit at a regional creative showcase event in March 2026.
Businesses that enrol in cohorts 6 and 7 will be offered the opportunity to exhibit at a regional creative showcase event in March 2026. To be eligible businesses must also be trading in one of the following creative sectors – advertising, marketing and PR, architecture, crafts, design and fashion, film, TV, video and photography, radio, IT, software, apps and video games, museums, galleries and libraries, music, visual and performing arts, and publishing and translation services.
Organisers say participants will develop a critical understanding of the factors driving growth in the creative industries; develop entrepreneurial, management and leadership capabilities; and understand the critical success factors for commercialising creativity.