Discover cooperatives: creative and digital sector

This webinar is aimed at freelancers, sole traders and artists in the digital and creative sectors who may be interested in exploring cooperative models.

The session shows how forming a cooperative offers another path, pooling skills, resources and networks with others who share your goals.

Cooperatives provide greater stability, shared benefits and more say in how work is shaped, built on principles of fairness, transparency and collective decision-making.

Learn about inspiring cooperatives and the people behind them.

Topics covered in this session

• A better understanding of what a cooperative is.

• Insight from people behind some of the most inspiring cooperatives in the UK.

• Clear guidance on the support available if you'd like to start your own or transition.

About the speakers

Ben Philp, Creative Co-op

Ben is the creative director at Creative Co-op, a worker-owned creative agency that works with organisations that prioritise people and planets.

It runs as a worker cooperative that operates democratically and shares power between its members.

Lenny Watson, Sister Midnight

Lenny is co-founder of Sister Midnight, a cooperative music venue and radio station based in Catford.

The organisation is currently transforming a former working men's club into a community-owned space, funded largely through community shares.

David Stone, Cuckoo Farm Studios

Dave is Chair of Cuckoo Farm Print Workshop, a not-for-profit printmaking collective operating within Cuckoo Farm Studios – a thriving creative hub renting around 30 studio spaces to artists.

He brings first-hand experience of navigating the practical and legal complexities of converting a small arts organisation to co-operative status, including some of its unexpected consequences.

Natasha Natarajan, Outlandish/CoTech

Natasha is a co-director of Outlandish, a London-based worker co-operative and digital agency. They are part of CoTech – a UK-wide network of 28 creative and tech worker co-ops committed to building a more ethical and cooperative digital economy.

At Outlandish, Natasha focuses on events, partnerships and network building, supporting freelancers and small businesses to explore cooperative ways of working.

Through CoTech, she helps connect people across the UK who are starting, joining or growing worker co-ops in the digital and creative sector.

Much of this work happens through Outlandish's cooperative workspace SPACE4 in Finsbury Park, where co-operators, technologists and organisers come together to collaborate and build new projects.

About the host

Terry Tyldesley, Kat Five

Terry, aka Kat Five, is an artist, a producer and a music tech consultant.

She founded inclusive music and technology platform Kitmonsters, previously chaired the ethical music streaming co-operative Resonate, and produced Music Tech Fest (MTF Labs) in Berlin.

She has also worked for Co-operatives UK in promoting the cooperative model in the tech sector.

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This webinar is brought to you by Grow London Local, East Sussex Growth Hub, Kent & Medway Growth Hub, Ambitious Essex Growth Hub and Hertfordshire Growth Hub.

Growth Hubs help businesses and entrepreneurs to start, grow and succeed by unlocking their potential through access to tailored business advice and online resources.

Whatever the stage of your business journey, be it the spark of entrepreneurism or ambitions to scale internationally, your local Growth Hub provides access to expert guidance, enabling you to seize new opportunities and overcome any barriers to growth.

The webinar is delivered by Co-operatives UK. As the voice of the UK's cooperative movement, Co-operatives UK empowers and supports cooperative enterprise with specialised knowledge and expertise, to grow the cooperative economy and create a fairer society.

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