IWD2026 - Give to Gain: Women Shaping Culture, Place & Possibility
Friday 6th March 2026 12:30 PM to 03:00 PM
The Harris Museum, Market Square, Preston
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Join for us a special IWD event exploring how trailblazing women and their collaborative projects help to shape place, culture and community, and empower underrepresented voices.
Join us for a special International Women’s Day Creative Networking Event featuring a networking session with light refreshments followed by a Conversations in Creativity Panel Discussion celebrating women who are reshaping the creative, cultural, and digital landscape through courage, collaboration and community-led impact.
Booking essential via Eventbrite
More about the panel discussion:
Featuring leaders from arts practice, cultural production, technology innovation, and place-making, this conversation explores how the ideas, resources, visibility, generosity and support can act as a powerful catalyst for equity, inclusion, and long-term change.
Aligned with the IWD 2026 theme, #GivetoGain, the panel will explore how removing barriers, redistributing opportunity, and investing in women’s leadership doesn’t diminish success, it multiplies it.
Expect an honest, inspiring discussion about how the work of these women address systemic challenges and incorporate lived experience, and the kinds of support that genuinely help communities and underrepresented voices thrive, or rise with them.
The guest speakers for our event are leaders from arts practice, cultural production, technology innovation, and place-making, including Elena Jackson, Director of Deco Publique who co-founded the National Festival of Making and is now launching Morecambe Bay Triannual, Tamima Mulla-Shah, Regional Manager of IN4 Group, and Karen Green of Creative Spaces Burnley. Our host and moderator for the event is Shirah Bamber, a communications consultant and strategist.
Read more about our speakers in our special IWD feature interview series:
After the event concludes, there will be an opportunity to hear a short talk about what to see at The Harris exhibitions from James Arnold(the Programmes & Collections Manager) and the chance thereafter to do a self-led tour of the Museum's exhibits.
Light refreshments will be served during the networking session in advance of the panel discussion.
This event is free to attend, but booking is essential as ticket access to the event will be managed.
Event Info:
12.30pm to 3pm, Friday 6th March 2026
The Reading Room, The Harris Museum, The Flag Market, Preston, PR1
Please note:
- The event will be filmed and photographed.
- By registering to attend this event, you agree to uphold Creative Lancashire's ethical code of conduct and principles across equality, diversity and inclusion which are underpinned by our mission and values
More info:
Conversations in Creativity is Creative Lancashire’s series of talks and insightful interviews, where creatives from across the disciplines explore how inspiration, often from around the world, informs process.
International Women's Day is an annual global event celebrating women and their achievements.
First initiated in 1911, IWD is also a movement encouraging us to stand up for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world, free of discrimination and stereotypes.
