CHEAD’s Creative Leadership Programme is delivered online and in-person via key note presentations, discussions, small group work, fireside chats and peer-learning constellations.

The course consists of five days learning delivered over four themed weeks from November 2025 – February 2026 and offers a structured progression through key areas:

Week 1 Identity – Breaking Open Leadership

Led by Ve Dewey, Concurrency and Dr Catherine (Cat) Glover, PhD, MRes, FHEA, Assistant Professor, School of Design, Arts and Creative Industries, Northumbria Universtiy

Over two immersive days, Week One of the residential programme sets the tone for the entire Creative Leadership Programme. Designed as both a soft landing and a provocation, this in-person gathering invites participants to step outside institutional routine and into a shared space of reflection, embodiment, and creative disruption.

Webinar 1 – A Fireside on Creative Rebellion & Leadership Integrity, with John S. Couch, author of The Art of Creative Rebellion and former VP of Product Design at Hulu and Roger Bateman, CHEAD Trustee and Director, Sheffield Creative Industries Institute

Week 2  Expertise – Reclaiming how we speak, how we lead, and who we speak for

Led by Professor Shelley McNulty PFHEA and Dr John Maeda  –  VP Engineering, CoreAI, with Professor David McGravie, CHEAD Chair and Pro Vice Chancellor / Executive Dean, Faculty of Arts Humanities & Social Sciences at University of Chester.

Week Two (one day, online) invites participants to reconnect with the insights and questions surfaced in Week One, deepening their exploration of purpose, identity, and leadership practice. Through reflection, constellation dialogue, and embodied inquiry, participants begin to articulate their “golden thread”, the personal values, creative instincts, and lived experiences that inform their leadership approach.

Webinar 2 – A Fireside on Designing Change in Times of Complexity, with Maria Guidice, Founder, Exec Leadership Coach, Co-author of Rise of the DEO and
Changemakers and Louise O’Boyle, CHEAD Trustee and Associate Dean (Academic Quality & Student Experience), Ulster University.

Week 3 (1 day)  Support – Leading from the inside out: care as institutional strategy

Led by Joanne Jørgensen, Founder of teamGlue and former Director of Nike’s Materials Innovation Studio

Week Three shifts the focus from self to system, exploring how leadership can shape, disrupt, or reinforce institutional culture. Through critical reflection, dialogue, and creative interventions, participants unpack how dominant norms, unspoken power dynamics, and systemic bias operate within their organisations — and begin prototyping strategies for shifting culture from within.

Webinar 3 – An Intimate Fireside Conversation on Leadership & Wellbeing, led by Kiran Bhatti, Counselling Psychologist and Wellbeing Advisor at Wolfson College, University of Cambridge and Thomas Roulet, Professor of Organisational Sociology and Leadership at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge

Week 4 (1 day): Advocacy – What we offer now shapes what comes next

Led by Nicola Watkinson, Managing Director of CityUK International and Associate at the Møller Institute and Angie Bual, Artistic Director and Co-CEO of Trigger.

Week Four concludes the programme with a focus on legacy, regeneration, and future-making. This session supports participants in articulating long-term leadership visions grounded in creative, relational, and culturally relevant values. Through ritual, dialogue, and creative provocation, the cohort explores what it means to lead with purpose across systems, beyond roles, titles, or institutions.

Online presentations will be recorded. In-person sessions are relaxed. There will be a 1.5-hour lunch break and regular breaks are scheduled for anyone who needs to step away.