Creative Lancashire celebrates 115 years of International Women’s Day with a special event at the Harris Museum, Preston.
23 February 2026 by Michelle
To celebrate the 115 anniversary of International Women’s Day, Creative Lancashire hosted a special IWD26 Creative Women Networking Event entitled “Give to Gain: Women shaping Culture, Place & Possibility.”
This special event in recognition of International Women's Day (IWD) took place on the 6th March 2026 in the recently reopened Harris Museum in Preston.
It featured a Creative Women Networking Lunch session followed by a Conversations in Creativity Panel Discussion featuring women who are reshaping the creative, cultural, and digital landscape through courage, collaboration and community-led impact.
Creative Lancashire has a long history of supporting International Women’s Day, including publishing feature articles and hosting events about trailblazing women with a connection to Lancashire and working in creative, tech and cultural industries.
See past events and features dating back to 2020, and watch highlights from the 2024 and 2025 events.
Aligned with the IWD 2026 theme, #GivetoGain, this year’s Conversations in Creativity discussion explored how removing barriers, redistributing opportunity, and investing in women’s leadership doesn’t diminish success, it multiplies it.
The session looked at how ideas, resources, visibility, generosity and support can act as a powerful catalyst for equity, inclusion, and long-term change, and how women – and how their collaborative projects help to shape place, culture and community, and empower underrepresented voices.
The Speakers at our IWD Creative Women Event
Our guest speakers were 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.
Elena was joined on stage by Tamima Mulla-Shah, Regional Manager of IN4 Group, and Karen Green of Creative Spaces Burnley.
Our host and moderator for the event was Shirah Bamber, an independent communications consultant and strategist, who works across sector, including in arts and culture.
Read more about our speakers and their thoughts on giving to gain, resiliency and what support really means for women, in our special IWD feature interview series:
Jenny Rutter, Chair of Creative Lancashire, commented on the need for these conversations and for further action:
“Even as we celebrate the achievements of trailblazing Lancashire creative women, we can’t ignore the need to work harder to increase representation and diversify our creative and cultural industries. Too often women, particularly those from underrepresented communities, face barriers to entry and advancement within our sector.”
Images of our special event were taken by Preston-based photographer Christina Davies of Fish2Photography
- View Christina's profile on our Creative Directory here.
- Websites: www.fish2commercial.co.uk/ / fish2.co.uk
Creative Lancashire is a business support service, provided by Lancashire County Council. It is dedicated to helping raise the profile of Lancashire's creative talent and to harnessing the economic potential in organisations and practitioners working in the cultural and creative industries.
Conversations in Creativity is Creative Lancashire’s series of talks and insightful interviews, where creatives and cultural professionals from across the disciplines explore how inspiration, often from around the world, informs their process. Previous contributors include Lubaina Himid, Halima Cassel, John Puttick, Hemingway Design, Nick Park, Keith Brymer Jones, Patrick Grant, Lemn Sissay and Jeanette Winterson to name a few.
About IWD
International Women's Day is an annual global event celebrating women and their achievements.
First initiated in 1911, IWD is celebrating 115 years in 2026. IWD is a movement encouraging us to stand up for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world, free of discrimination and stereotypes.
IWD is not country, group or organisation specific, it belongs to all groups collectively everywhere who champion equality, diversity and inclusivity.
#IWD2026 #GiveToGain