Big Creative UK Investment Summit: West Midlands
5 February 2026
Tuesday 10 February at The Rep, Birmingham
with our host, Marverine Cole, and remarks from
Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker
WHAT TO LOOK FORWARD TO
Insightful Panels - Hear directly from founders and sector leaders on scaling creative ventures and shaping the region’s future.
Networking Lunch - Connect with peers, funders, and industry partners over relaxed lunch and evening drinks with canapes.
Curated Expo - Explore a showcase of innovative businesses from the Create Growth Programme cohort.
Live Performances - Enjoy selected performances throughout the day - celebrating the region’s creative energy.
Creative businesses, founders, sector leaders and investors from across the West Midlands will come together at the Birmingham Rep Theatre, for The Big Creative UK Summit: West Midlands – Creative Showcase.
Designed to spotlight the extraordinary growth potential which exists within the sector and the region, the event is hosted by multi-award winning broadcaster and journalist Marverine Cole - and will feature a mix of bold discussions, live performances and networking, as well as an exhibition of creative businesses from across the region.
The event is a celebration of the West Midlands Create Growth Programme (CGP): a programme funded by DCMS and delivered in partnership with the Mayor of the West Midlands, Richard Parker, West Midlands Combined Authority and Create Central.
Designed to support founders, entrepreneurs and leaders on the next phase of their growth journey, this celebration of the CGP showcases the journeys of over 80 high-growth creative businesses.
The morning sees an exclusive investor breakfast, hosted by Tara Attfield-Tomes, founder of EAST VILLAGE and The 51% Club, with a keynote from Gareth Deakin on innovation, scaling creative businesses and emerging technology trends. Selected businesses from the West Midlands Create Growth Programme have been invited to pitch as they work towards raising investment.
The afternoon’s session will open with a speech from Mayor Richard Parker – reflecting on the importance of the creative economy, and will be followed by remarks from Graham Webb, Create Central.
Sarah Ellis, Director of Creative Innovation and member of the senior leadership team at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and Ammo Talwar MBE, founder and CEO of PUNCH, will take part in a peer-to-peer conversation, discussing their boundary pushing careers spanning music and theatre, digital and community facing, grassroots and institutional settings.
Throughout the day, there will be an expo of unique creative businesses that have come through the programme, including:
Threewise Entertainment: A UK indie spanning production and licensing for international scripted IP in the kids and family market
Aetherworks Art: A female-founded Createch business, fusing hologram technology with contemporary circus arts
Teams Glued: An innovative, research-backed team development programme that combines VR escape-room challenges with psychometric insights
Jheez // Jashaan Gill: An exhibition bringing together physical fashion, immersive technology, and storytelling
The Connect: A creator-first platform supporting fair, craft-led creative collaboration, enabling brands, agencies, and production teams to discover and work with creative talent based on the quality of their work
Curious Pencil Ltd: Helping businesses strengthen client relationships through meaningful, custom-designed corporate greeting cards
Tunes x Tables Ltd: An education company with 20 years of proven impact, transforming how children learn multiplication through movement, rhymes and fun
Mixd Reality: An award-winning UK creative technology company pioneering inclusive Augmented Reality (AR) storytelling for children, particularly supporting autistic, neurodivergent and SEND learners
SHAIR: A next-generation advertising video-on-demand platform rethinking how film and television content is distributed, marketed, and monetised
FourPlus: A B2B SaaS deep-tech company building an AI-driven XR platform to gamify STEM learning and talent pipeline growth for future medicines manufacturing
G.A.P Entertainment C.I.C: Developing high-quality, cultural arts productions in dance, music, theatre, TV and film, with productions which engage participants from underserved, under-represented and marginalised communities
Art at the Heart of Learning Ltd: Designing innovative solutions to complex social problems, centring visual arts as instrumental.
The event will also feature an exciting live performance from Deekshaa Arts: a UK-based Indian arts organisation dedicated to serving the Indian diaspora through high-quality education, cultural engagement and inclusive artistic experiences.
Commenting on the Summit, Caroline Norbury, Creative UK said: “The West Midlands is a hub for creative talent – and there has never been a more exciting time to invest in the creative industries. Named as a priority sector in the UK Government’s Industrial Strategy, it’s innovative, imaginative creative businesses like the cohort we are seeing at this event which will lead our collective growth.”
Commenting on the Summit, Richard Parker, Mayor of the West Midlands, said: “This region is fast becoming the creative capital of the UK. It’s alive with big ideas and unbelievable talent, and I’m backing it all the way.
“Almost 100 innovative businesses and individuals have benefitted from funding and expert support from our Create Growth Programme to turn their new ideas, products and services into growing businesses. It’s creating exciting new jobs on our doorstep in sectors such as film, TV, gaming, virtual reality and sustainable fashion.
“My Growth Plan will unlock even more potential for these vibrant sectors and propel local people with creative flair onto the global stage, further strengthening our region’s international reputation.”
Ed Shedd, Chair of Create Central, said: “It’s incredible to see how creative businesses supported by the West Midlands Create Growth Programme are making strides toward investment-readiness and real commercial success, while also laying the foundations for sustainable, high-quality job creation across the region. One of Create Central’s core missions is to unlock opportunities for content monetisation, build resilient business models, and create clear pathways into markets that support long-term growth, skilled employment, and competitive scale-up. As a forward-looking cluster, and with Creative UK as our delivery partner, we’re focused on shaping the right conditions for creative enterprises to thrive, backed by specialist expertise, strategic support and the financial foundations they need to grow and generate lasting economic impact.”
Tara Attfield-Tomes, founder of EAST VILLAGE and The 51% Club said: "The West Midlands is a powerhouse of creativity, but the industry is still often seen as a risk to investors. The reality, though, is that these businesses are at the forefront of sector-defining technology and represent exciting, high-growth, IP-led businesses with the commercial ambition to scale globally… right here in the region.
That’s why the Create Growth Programme is so crucial, as it bridges the gap between creative innovators and investors. I’m delighted to be hosting the upcoming Investor Summit as it’s the perfect platform for founders to articulate their value and for investors to discover the next generation of West Midlands success stories. We aren’t just celebrating the participants of the programme; we’re enabling serious commercial partnerships that will drive our regional economy forward."