This Friday (15 May), a new event is launching in Bedford to forge a stronger connection among the Borough’s creative community.
The Creatives Breakfast is hosted by Carly Cook, a Bedford-based freelancer with two decades of experience in event management, who produced the UK’s largest free festival for the creative industries.
Carly describes Friday’s event at the Higgins Pantry as “a relaxed space with good food and good coffee to let the conversation flow”.
She’s got around 20 guests signed up, from content creators to artists, photographers to creative directors, architects to agency founders and more, and is hoping that even more will be inspired to join.
“This is not surface-level networking,” she says. “It’s genuine conversations with people who understand what it takes to turn creativity into income and impact.”
Creativity at the heart of communities
Bedford is often praised for the strength of its creative community, and Carly believes it is vital to the fabric of the town.
In addition, creative industries as a whole contribute £125bn to the UK economy.
“If you look back at previous decades, it’s the fashion, music and art that defined and shaped those eras – often flowing out of a creative community or movement,” she said.
“We may no longer be brickmaking or lacemaking in Bedford, but creatives are still generating new ideas, new opportunities and new ways of seeing our place.
“The creative community can shape Bedford’s identity for the next generation, bringing innovation, cultural moments that people remember, and a sense of place that makes people want to stay, invest, and contribute.
“When creatives thrive, the whole town benefits.”
With a degree in Visual Studies and a career in events and communications, Carly says she’s been exploring ways to gather creatives together in Bedfordshire for a while, but decided to stop overthinking and waiting for permission, and just go for it.
“I was waiting for a friend in the courtyard outside The Higgins on a sunny Wednesday morning in March and had a vision of creatives chatting in the sunshine, drinking coffee and eating pastries so the next day, I booked the date,” she explained.
The Creatives Breakfast is just one facet of Carly’s ambitions. She co-founded the community interest company, Future Bedfordshire Collective, helping to ambitiously and collaboratively shape the future of the county.
“I’m having conversations with others who are passionate about building this, because I can’t do it alone,” she said.
“I’d love for the breakfast to be the first of regular meetups where creative professionals feel refreshed, find friends, collaborators and mentors, learn new skills and feel grounded in a local creative community.
“I’ve also been getting involved with the Bedford Cultural Partnership, talking about what it could look like to revive Creative Bedfordshire and how this could connect.
“All alongside building my business, working part-time at The Store and enjoying family life with three teenagers.”
Collaborative partnerships
Carly describes a resilience to Bedford’s creative community and a spirit of making things happen here.
“There’s a desire to work in partnership and just try things out, even when it’s hard,” she said.
“We’ve got everything from the Circus of Illustration, POPArt, circular fashion, brilliant theatrical productions, creative therapy through art, play, walks and dancing and community arts projects like the River / Flow / Connect in Kempston.
“Creative agencies are delivering cutting-edge work while supporting local people through jobs, so many talented artists and even the indie businesses in Bedford are applying creative thinking every day to tackle the constantly changing economic landscape.
“Take Gemma from The Arc as an example; she’s become a fashion designer with her Bedford merch collection.”
Beyond Bedford, Carly describes the thriving creative communities such as The Forge in Leighton Buzzard and The Hat District in Luton, repurposing hat factories into working spaces for creatives.
“There’s a vulnerability that comes with being creative,” she says.
“We need an environment where it’s less about self-promotion and securing business deals and more about cheering one another on, and having curious conversations about what it’s really like to make a living pursuing creative work.
“There are a lot of creative networking events in bigger cities and local creatives commuting into London, but there’s something really grounding about connecting locally.”
You can find out more about the Creatives Breakfast at Carly’s website and book your place there too.
Visit carlycookcreative.com/events to find out more and to book.
