Reyt Creative Up North

Tuesday 28 April 2026 5:30pm-7:30pm

5:15pm - Auditorium opens
5:30pm - Talk starts

The bar will be open from 4:00pm-5:30pm prior to the start of the talk. 

Booking is essential as places are limited.

Location: Leeds Arts University, Blenheim Walk, Leeds LS2 9AQ

Join us for our next Creative Networks as we celebrate our 180th year and creative success in the north, hearing from those who are at the forefront!

It's safe to say, the North is a pretty creative place!

Yorkshire has established itself as a major UK creative powerhouse, particularly within West Yorkshire, which boasts the fastest-growing cultural and creative industries sector outside of London. The region hosts nearly 9,000 creative businesses, employs almost 50,000 people in the sector, and contributes roughly £2 billion to the local economy.

Join us as we celebrate creativity in the north, hearing from those who are at the forefront!

Hear from speakers from BIG organisation doing BIG things, creatively, all based in West Yorkshire. They will speak about their career journeys, how their organisations have thrived in the north, and give insight into opportunities and advice for early career creatives.

Harriet Fletcher, Managing and Artistic Director of Everybody Arts

Harriet Fletcher is an artist/artist educator who responds to objects and collections through contemporary craft materials and processes, focusing specifically upon surface pattern collections, ceramic objects and archives. Her 13 year career includes work as a freelance artist, creating commissions and exhibitions for organisations such as Wakefield Museum, Gawthorpe Textiles Collection and The Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair; and work as an artist educator and lecturer for the Hepworth Wakefield, Yorkshire Sculpture Park and UCLAN.

After becoming a member of Everybody Arts, Halifax from 2013, as a studio holder and artist educator, she became co-director in 2020 and is now privileged to be at the forefront of an organisation who has community at its heart. She has been involved in developing and delivering programmes for Calderdale’s communities over the past 6 years, ensuring barriers are removed and as many people as possible get to experience the value of art and improve their lives.

Everybody Arts

Everybody Arts has been a place where the opportunity to experience the benefits of art and understand its value is available to everybody, regardless of age, ability, background, or circumstance, since 2008: hence our name. Our venue, a grade II listed textile mill in Halifax is home to our art school with extensive creative production facilities and equipment, the Everybody Gallery where artistic practices and processes are shared and showcased as well as our studios, where artists make their work. We also take our work into the community, to hospitals, schools, community venues as well as online and in people's homes.

Eve MacDonald, Designer and Creative Growth at Kiss Branding

Eve Macdonald joined KISS in 2025 as a junior designer, which evolved into a tailored role of both creative strategy and business growth. Her background spans fine art, PR, marketing, advertising and brand. She graduated in 2023 with a degree in Fine Art and History of Art, and has spent the time since moving fluidly across the creative industries. She's a firm believer that the wobbly career path can build better creatives. The person who has worn a few different hats may ask better questions, spot the gaps others might miss, and bring a unique perspective to the table. She is passionate about cross-pollination of ideas and industries, and thinks coming from the “wrong” background can be really helpful.

Outside of KISS, Eve runs "Pencil It In, Leeds" a community calendar connecting creatives across the city because she knows how isolating those first years can be, and thinks nobody should have to navigate the creative industries alone.

KISS Branding

When you feel it in your gut and you get it in an instant – it’s raw, honest, and impactful. A KISS says: This Matters.

Founded in 2017 by Poonam Saini and Matt Kilb, KISS are keepers of the human spark. Creating brands that KISS is the core of KISS Branding. Brands that spark that feeling in your chest. The excitement, the joy, that moment of connection. From soul to society, they’ll work with selected brands from the inside out, establishing a consistent truth that runs through every aspect of the business. From food and drink to placemaking, we find the missing spark and bring brands to life.

UK Greetings

UK Greetings is one of the UK’s largest direct to retail greeting cards publishers. We create award-winning greeting cards, gift dressings and social expressions products for birthdays, life’s events, special occasions, and those “saw this and thought of you” moments.

We all come from various disciplines and backgrounds, all adding our unique flair to what we do; illustrators, designers, editors, artworkers, print experts, product managers, prototype makers all come together with passion and commitment to develop our product lines and work on the next exciting project.

We love art. We like to think it shows in every brush stroke and pencil sketch we make, because every designer is passionate about their work and more importantly each designer is different, with their own creative eye and skill. We’re always developing and unearthing new approaches through various workshops and projects, and by collaborating with each other. It keeps us inspired, which makes our work fresh and exciting.