Inspiring creatives announced for Biz Week launch events
COLLABORATION: Alan Raw, keynote speaker at the Humber Business Week north bank programme launch
By Rick Lyon, Co-Editor
The Humber Business Week community will be urged to ask itself two questions when it welcomes the keynote speaker to the north bank programme launch this month.
Dr Alan Raw, who received an honorary doctorate last year from the University of Hull for sustainability and creative practice, will return to the venue and challenge his audience to consider what sort of future they want to write for the Humber region, and what role they can play in it.
A former BBC broadcaster and co-founder of BBC Introducing, Alan is also a published author, cultural catalyst, entrepreneur and sustainability practitioner working at the intersection of creativity, business and environmental systems.
He revealed he plans to tap into the key Biz Week themes of sustainability, collaboration and culture by presenting the Humber as a real-world example of industrial transformation and environmental change, and looking at how businesses, communities and institutions can work together to build resilient futures.
Rather than seeing climate and environmental change as abstract challenges, he will invite the audience to view them as opportunities for collaboration, innovation and long-term thinking.
Alan said: “Humber Business Week is one of those rare moments when people from very different sectors come together in the same room. Those conversations matter because collaboration is how regions like ours turn challenges into opportunities.
“The Humber is a place that has always lived with change. This region is learning in real time how to adapt. My talk will be about sustainability, creative practice and leadership, how the futures we build always begin as ideas, and how businesses and communities can work together to write a future they want to live in.”
The event will take place at the University of Hull Business School from 5pm until 7pm on Wednesday, April 22.
The programme launch on the south bank will use the striking cultural setting Helios - a large-scale illuminated installation in Grimsby Minster by internationally renowned artist Luke Jerram – as the backdrop for the event on Tuesday, April 28 between 5pm and 7pm.
The event will be delivered in collaboration between Future Humber, The Culture House and Humber Business Week. Leaders from business, culture and local government will share insight into Grimsby’s growing cultural momentum, the impact of investment and funding and the opportunity this creates for Humber.
Pat Coyle, chair of Humber Business Week, said: “The purpose of the programme launches is to reveal details of the events which are planned on both sides of the Humber, and this year we’re fortunate to have speakers who can help us do that from the combined perspective of sustainability, collaboration and culture.
“The programme launch is also a key point in the countdown to Biz Week itself, which kicks off on Monday, June 1 with a packed schedule of events at the MKM Stadium in Hull and continues with an array of speaker events, advice sessions, panel discussions and plenty of opportunities to interact and engage before the curtain comes down with The Business Day on Friday, June 5
“The launch events are also an opportunity for people to set their Biz Week priorities, plan ahead to avoid clashes, and meet some of the people who will be organising, hosting and attending the sessions.
“New events are being added to the Humber Business Week website all the time and we’re urging anyone planning to host something to get it up online as soon as possible and join the programme launch line-up.”
To keep track of the latest additions to the Humber Business Week programme, register your own events and book your places visit https://humberbusinessweek.co.uk/