HEY Creative appoints City of Culture champion as new Chief Officer

Cultural partnership HEY Creative has appointed a senior leader at the forefront of the UK’s latest City of Culture as its new Chief Officer.

Lisa Mallaghan has more than two decades of experience leading major arts programmes, developing successful national and international initiatives, and delivering epic-scale productions.

As HEY Creative’s new Chief Officer, Lisa will lead the organisation into the next phase of its development and build on cross-sector partnerships to enable arts, culture and heritage in Hull and East Yorkshire to thrive.

HEY Creative is Hull and East Yorkshire’s Cultural Compact, established by Arts Council England and the Department of Culture, Media and Sport to support the region’s arts and cultural sectors to grow.

Lisa succeeds Max May as HEY Creative’s Chief Officer, following a successful foundation period which saw the organisation publish its ground-breaking Creative Charter and receive backing from more than 120 organisations.

Lisa, who has been Executive Director of Bradford Producing Hub for the past six years, said: “As an arts and culture leader, I’m passionate about seeing the growth of the creative industries, in the North in particular.

“What excites me about HEY Creative is the cross-sector approach, bringing together arts, business, universities, health and education to support arts and culture to grow, and develop a place, an economy and a community.

“The work HEY Creative has done so far is really exciting. The key is turning that cross-sector collaboration into real action and impact for the cultural sector and for the organisations involved. 

“It’s a fantastic opportunity to work together to maximise every opportunity for arts and culture across Hull and East Yorkshire.”

As Executive Director of Bradford Producing Hub, Lisa led the establishment and growth of an organisation which became the Capacity Development Strategic Partner to Bradford 2025 UK City of Culture, delivering a three-year programme in preparation for the city’s arts showcase.

Lisa also co-designed and delivered The Bradford Way – a £1m arts initiative which focused on developing cultural entrepreneurs and businesses throughout Bradford’s City of Culture year.

Prior to her role at Bradford Producing Hub, she was Senior Producer at Mind the Gap – England’s leading learning disability performance and live arts company.

From playing a leading role in Bradford’s year as 2025 UK City of Culture, Lisa’s attention will now turn to building on Hull and East Yorkshire’s thriving cultural scene as it approaches the 10-year anniversary of Hull’s year as UK City of Culture in 2017.

Dominic Gibbons, Chair of HEY Creative, said: “In appointing Lisa as our new Chief Officer, we have at our helm a leader who has made a significant contribution to Bradford and Yorkshire’s cultural sector over the past decade.

“Lisa shares our vision, and ambition, for the vital role HEY Creative must play in the region’s cultural life, forging and strengthening cross-sector partnerships and helping to shape a diverse, sustainable future for arts organisations.

“I’d also like to take the opportunity to thank Max for his leadership of HEY Creative, guiding the organisation from its earliest days and putting in place strong foundations from which to build.”

Max, who is moving on from HEY Creative to become Chief Executive of national arts charity Creative Lives, said: “I’m so proud of what we’ve achieved in my time at HEY Creative, and to have played a part in championing Hull and East Yorkshire’s remarkable arts, culture and heritage.

“In Lisa, HEY Creative has a fantastic new Chief Officer to lead the organisation into a bright future.”