Ed Matthews-Gentle joins Creative UK's newly refreshed EDI Advisory Group

Creative UK is the independent network for the UK's Creative Industries whose objectives include building an inclusive, diverse workforce and ecosystem and enabling creative talent and businesses to thrive across the whole of the UK.

The new members of their Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Group (EDIAG) come from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences across the creative and cultural industries and are ideally placed to drive the next phase of their EDI work. 

About the EDI Advisory Group

The EDI Advisory Group (EDIAG), which was established in 2024, will have a renewed focus on ensuring diversity and inclusion are firmly embedded across all their Creative Industries Sector Plan intentions from policy to practice, as well as their wider work on Leadership Diversity, Industry Access, and Diverse Creative Business Development & Growth. 

The refreshed EDIAG will be firmly implanted in their governance structure though the appointment of a Chair who will also sit on their UK Council, the key strategic body within Creative UK that will be driving their member and wider industry responses to the Sector Plan. EDIAG members will also provide specialist insight through the key strategic pillars of activity on which the UK Council will focus including Skills, Regional Growth, Access to Finance, and Ai & Tech Adoption.

New EDIAG Members 

The twelve new members of the group include Ed Matthews-Gentle of Creative Lancashire.

Ed Matthews-Gentle is Strategic Team Lead for Culture & Creative Industries at Creative Lancashire, with over twenty years’ experience working with and developing creative organisations. 

Key projects and collaborations include British Textile Biennial, National Festival of Making, and overseeing Lancashire’s Cultural Strategy.  Ed was invited by Crafts Council to join as a Trustee and is a member of the associated Craft UK – Anti-Racism Working Group, working closely and chairing meetings of the related Global Majority Branch & Equity Advisory Council. 

In 2011, Ed co-founded Conversations in Creativity as a forum for creative dialogue and ideas, and as a platform for practitioners from around the world and across disciplines to explore how creative inspiration informs process. Ed also sits on the Advisory Panel for the Granada Foundation. 

Other new members joining the EIDAG in January 2026 are:

• Amanda Parker – Ink Arts 

• Arit Eminue – All Things People & Talent 

• Ayan Aden – Birmingham Poet Laureate 

• Debbie Bandera – SODA 

• Dom Jinks – Cultural Business Development Consultant 

• Drew Christie – Sports Media & Access Consultant 

• Faye Stewart – Independent Access Consultant 

• Hazel Durrant – Theatre, Music & Access Consultant 

• Jasmine Dotiwala, OBE – Media & Inclusion Consultant 

• Rupert Jones-Lee – Film & TV Charity 

• Tajpal Rathore – Tribe Arts 

The EDIAG Objectives:

The EDI Advisory Group will continue to; 

• Increase our knowledge and understanding of access and engagement barriers affecting underrepresented groups and advise on ways of mitigating or removing these barriers. 

• Help us to steer policy and advocacy on behalf of diverse groups across the creative and cultural industries, ensuring that underrepresented groups are considered in all of our policy and advocacy positions.  

• Increase access to networks that engage underrepresented groups so that we increase our reach, relevance, and relatability. 

• Strengthen the creative and cultural sector’s ability to provide inclusive and accessible opportunities for all. 

Read more about the EDIAG and their members on the Creative UK website.

Image of Ed Matthews-Gentle by Lewis Doherty - @lewis.doherty.mp4