Creative and digital festival Bloom is returning to Liverpool this March – and it couldn’t come at a better time following the government’s recent pledge of £40m to “turbocharge” regional creative growth.
The one-day festival, hosted on 6 March at Camp & Furnace in Liverpool, will feature a number of exciting panel discussions covering everything from the Northern creative corridor to talent, networking and collaboration opportunities, plus access to business advice through Bloom’s support hub.
Prolific North is proudly supporting Bloom this year – and readers can receive a 20% discount off festival tickets by using the code PRO20BLOOM at checkout.
Bloom is being hosted by the small team behind Baltic Creative, a community interest company, which recently celebrated its 15th anniversary and supports the creative and digital sector by reinvesting all of its profits back into its buildings and services.
With over 120,000sq ft in Baltic Creative’s portfolio, there’s no signs of slowing down as the firm looks to “grow and expand” and provide even more space to keep up with the demand for creative and digital businesses to thrive in the region.
READ MORE: £40million to drive growth in music, film and gaming outside of London
Following a successful debut festival in 2024, Bloom festival is continuing to tie all of Baltic Creative’s support for the creative and digital sectors together into one annual event, now bringing attendees together across the North to collaborate, forge new connections, develop ideas and leave feeling inspired.
“The driver behind this year’s festival is to open the doors a lot more. It’s about collaboration. So we’ve gone from really focusing on the creative and digital sectors in the Liverpool City region to the creative and digital sectors in the North,” Lynn Haime, CEO at Baltic Creative, tells Prolific North.
“By creating a way for creative and digital businesses to speak to each other through plenty of networking opportunities where people can forge those connections, we can collaborate and join up, it’s all about strength in numbers.”
Over at Bloom’s Business Hub, attendees can also expect to receive support from the likes of Baltic Ventures, LCR Finance Hub and many more.
So what are some of the key sessions you can expect on the day at Bloom? Following a networking breakfast, the festival will kick off with an unmissable Q&A session ‘Northern Mayors – Stronger Together: Rise of the North’.
Join Steve Rotheram, Mayor of Liverpool City Region; Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire; North East mayor Kim McGuinness; and Caroline Norbury OBE, CEO of Creative UK, as they address how connectivity and collaboration can be improved across the North. The panel will also look at boosting skills development, access to finance, R&D and innovation, while also looking at current policies, future trends, growth, infrastructure and innovation.
From keynotes on creativity and collaboration with presenter and author Mark Shayler to an expert digital panel looking at the synergy between games, film, TV in the North with leaders from Dock10, GameRepublic and RadicalForge, there are plenty of sessions for collaboration across the day.
The festival will also feature important panels on the next generation of talent, the unique role music plays in ‘making cities better’, delve into conversations about placemaking, planning and purpose-driven communities, and will wrap up with an after party.
Check out the full agenda for the festival here – and don’t forget to use discount code PRO20BLOOM to receive 20% off your tickets.
