The best of Creative Shift
Following the closure of Creative Shift in March 2016, with the consulting arm of the business moving within Birmingham Hippodrome, this site now operates as an archive for our free business resources and the wealth of information available here on the blog.
Here are some of our most popular posts:
- William Ury: Negotiation skills and the walk from ‘no’ to ‘yes’
- Drawing on art to develop business skills
- Why networking is not sales
- Imposter syndrome, and how it can help
- The gift of hindsight: What do you wish you had known?
- Morning pages
- Do you have a personal boardroom?
- 4 alternatives to powerpoint for your presentation
- Today I have so much to do…
- The risk of doing nothing
You can also find information on networking, and mentoring.
Creative Advantage Fund sponsors FREE business development – get to market faster, cheaper or better.
Do you have ideas about great new products or services but don’t know how to test them in the marketplace? Want to innovate but don’t know where to start?
The CAF Mentoring Sprint (a three month programme of workshops and 1-2-1 support) has been funded by the Creative Advantage Fund – the UK’s first dedicated Venture Capital fund for the Creative Industries.
This is a unique opportunity for up to 10 companies to develop a business product or service by using “Design Thinking” – developing a rapid prototype and testing your value proposition so that you can get to market faster, cheaper, better – or all three!
Here’s how it works:

Book Now! RE:Present Masterclass with Mark Ball
Tuesday 26 April, 18:00 – 20:00
Aston Business School
We’re happy to announce that FREE tickets are now available for the next RE:Present Masterclass with Mark Ball.
The RE:Present programme is delivered by Lara Ratnaraja and Creative Shift and is a new initiative aimed at developing leadership in emergent and established cultural producers and artists from diverse backgrounds who are currently under-represented in Birmingham. Re:Present is funded by Birmingham City Council and Arts Council England in a unique partnership with University of Birmingham, Birmingham City University and Aston Business School.

Speakers announced and a new date for the RE:Position roadshow (Creative Industries). Book now!
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Last year Creative Shift undertook a major piece of research into how creative businesses can access the money and resources they need to grow. We didn’t find any magic wands or instant solutions – but there are some interesting case studies, inspiring individuals and different thinking that we would like to share.
With the support of Birmingham City Council, the RE:Position roadshow event is a chance to take a look at where you are in your creative business, where you want to get to and more importantly – what might fuel that journey. These are the events which, if you have a creative business, will give you some tools and inspiration. (There are also two events for cultural organisations looking at fund-raising and we will share those dates in a separate email.)
RE:Position for the creative industries/ for profit entities
Wednesday 27th April – 1000 – 1630 – PWC Room, Birmingham Hippodrome, Thorp Street, Birmingham, B5 4TB
Thursday 12th May – 1000 – 1630 – The Conservatory, The Bond, 180 – 182 Fazeley Street, Birmingham, B5 5SE – NEW DATE AND VENUE
This FREE event will:
From Helga Henry:
Creative Shift has operated from Birmingham Hippodrome since 2011 to bring creativity and consultancy services to a range of clients from the corporate, creative, cultural and academic sectors. It has also contributed to the development of staff at the theatre itself. Over the last five years our work has increasingly focused on developing its brand values and behaviours as well as initiatives at Birmingham Hippodrome designed to support the Senior Management Team (SMT) as they spend more time on organisational growth and strategy.
After nearly 20 years of trading, first as Fierce Earth and then as Creative Shift, the company has some exciting changes to announce.
Within Birmingham Hippodrome a new senior management role has been created at Director level – Director of Organisational Development. This role will address the organisation’s culture and leadership – especially its investment in staff, board and volunteers. From 1st April 2016 I will be joining the SMT of Birmingham Hippodrome to undertake this exciting new role together with strategic consultancy projects and thought leadership that contribute to the theatre and the cultural sector as a whole.
The consultancy business of Creative Shift will therefore move to become part of Birmingham Hippodrome Consulting. Creative Shift Ltd will cease trading from 31st March 2016. Our existing initiatives – the RE:Present Leadership course (delivered with Lara Ratnaraja), RE:Position Roadshow events, the CAF Mentoring Sprint (delivered with Bass Clusker) and other client commitments will all continue as part of Birmingham Hippodrome Consulting.
As for the rest of the team: I’m delighted to say that Grace Morgan has been appointed Assistant to the SMT and Emily Jayne Phillips and Thomasina Carlyle will join the ranks of “Amazing People” as collaborators on specific projects undertaken as part of the Birmingham Hippodrome Consulting offer. Please note that from April 1st my main email address will be helgahenry@birminghamhippodrome.com. Please amend your address books accordingly (the old email address will remain open for some time though!).
It is the end of an era for Fierce Earth/ Creative Shift. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our clients, partners, stakeholders, collaborators and supporters for their work, custom and help over the years. On a personal note I feel an enormous debt of gratitude for all the support I have personally received and I know that I am all the richer for it. I hope that I can take what I have learned from my time at Fierce Earth/Creative Shift and use it to contribute to Birmingham Hippodrome’s exciting new vision.
There are too many people to thank but I would just like to acknowledge our current staff team: Grace, Emily and Thomasina for their talent, dedication and hard work. Also our “Amazing People” Orit Azaz, Andy Bass, Noel Dunne, Angela Maxwell, Dean Melbourne and Lara Ratnaraja for their ongoing brilliance. Finally I’d particularly like to thank Mark Ball, founder of Fierce Earth, Stuart Griffiths former Chief Executive of Birmingham Hippodrome and Fiona Allan, Artistic Director and Chief Executive of Birmingham Hippodrome who all, in their own ways, took a chance on me. I trust your faith in me was not or will not be misguided!

RE:Present Masterclass with Althea Efunshile
Last week the second of our RE:Present diversity in cultural leadership programme Masterclasses took place at Aston University. This time, the speaker was Althea Efunshile, Deputy Chief Executive of Arts Council England. An incredibly inspiring evening, some of the chatter and topics covered can be found in our storify below.
If you don’t want to miss out on our next masterclass, with Adil Ray, you can book your FREE place here.
Homegrown – Artist Development Programme Call Out
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