Overview
Headquarters
Inverness, Highland
XpoNorth plays an essential role in supporting local creatives and businesses by working year-round to support, connect and advise practitioners across the creative industries. It offers direct access to the Highlands and Islands network as well as the global marketplace to ensure that all creatives can connect with industry professionals. The ‘Sector Support Programme’ is an agile customer led service which facilitates free access to specialist advisors for creative and cultural businesses based in the Highlands and Islands. Its ‘On the Road’ events are an important element in reaching out to creative communities with additional webinars and podcasts all providing valuable content and information for the region. Its annual conference takes place in June in the picturesque Scottish Highland capital, Inverness. The 2019 edition attracted over 1,500 delegates across the creative sector and produced 57 seminars featuring a host of leading local, national and international speakers. Additionally, the free conference showcased over 60 music acts across the city, produced a diverse film screening programme whilst presenting dedicated craft exhibitions, trade areas for regional, national and international partners as well as a range of networking opportunities and 1-2-1s. Previous speakers that have joined XpoNorth include representatives from Paramount, Universal, Sony, NASA, Times of India Media Group, The Louvre, The Internal Olympic Committee and Museum, HarperCollins, NBC, CBC, Alessi, Harris Tweed Authority, The Tate Gallery, Bookbub, Kobo, Google, YouTube, Xbox and PlayStation. XpoNorth is funded by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), City-Region Deal (Cumhnant Baile-Roinne) and The Northern Innovation Hub and is delivered by Ironworks Venue.
