Workshops, networking and other opportunities
Looking for other ways to help your organisation succeed or grow your profile? Here we'll list any upcoming workshops, seminars, networking events or other interesting opportunities for those in the arts, culture and heritage community in Reading.
Creativity, Care and Mental Health - 5 November
Becoming Mums invite you to Creativity, Care and Mental Health, a free cross-sector conference at the University of Reading on Thursday 5 November 2026.
They are bringing together everyone who works with women*, mothers, children or families to look at how art and creativity can shape our mental health and wellbeing.
Whether your experience is in health, maternity, mental health, social care, family support, community work, arts, culture or creative practices of all kinds, you are welcome to join the conversation as they ask:
What are we going to do about maternal mental health?
This is an Open Space event, so you bring the questions, challenges and ideas that matter to you, and together create the agenda.
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Find out more
New creative events business opportunity
Exciting one-off opportunity to purchase the Goodwill of a highly successful creative events business.
Is there anyone locally who is looking for an exciting new chapter? Sadly due to personal circumstances our successful, local, fun and profitable business is very regrettably looking for someone to take it on its next adventure.
If you know anyone dreaming of running their own business this is a one off opportunity to continue an established business that fits in with their family and lifestyle?
- Based from home and delivered on clients’ premises
- Work flexibly around family commitments
- Profitable, established, & growing
Please note: this business is continuing to trade as normal while a new owner is found. All existing and future bookings will go ahead as planned, and we'll continue creating amazing experiences until the handover takes place.
For more information see the documents below. All enquiries please contact sue@creativspaces.co.uk
Upcoming Webinars from the Digital Culture Network
Arts Council England's Digital Culture Network provides practical, on-the-ground help to the creative and culture sector. Their focus is around digital skills, data literacy and leadership development.
Upcoming webinars:
Capturing Culture: Live subtitling in museums and galleries
Wednesday 21 October, 12.00 – 13.00
A free webinar for museums and galleries to learn about the barriers deaf visitors face and how to implement live subtitling to remove them.
In this hour-long webinar we’ll hear from a Stagetext ambassador about what it’s like to access museum and gallery events as a deaf person, and you’ll have the opportunity to ask your burning questions about live subtitling in a supportive and judgement free environment.
Making arts & culture accessible: A Q&A with Stagetext & VocalEyes
Wednesday 18 November, 12.00 – 13.00
In this session, you’ll have the opportunity to ask your burning questions about accessibility and hear directly from experts working at the forefront of access in the cultural sector. We’re delighted to welcome Stagetext and VocalEyes to the panel. The conversation will be guided by your questions, but we expect to cover practical insights on common accessibility challenges and how to overcome them and useful resources and support available to arts and cultural organisations.
Webinar: Supercool Sessions #18 – How are people really using your event listings?
Thursday November 5, 1:00pm
Supercool’s Head of Client Innovation, Andrew Ladd, discusses his recent research into user behaviour on arts and cultural websites' event listings – and some surprising findings that came out of it.
If you spend a lot of time looking at cultural organisation’s websites (which Supercool do!), you’re bound to notice some patterns that come up again and again. They took two of these common patterns – event filters on What’s On pages, and in-page menus on event pages – and looked at how actual people are actually using them.
This session will cover what they found about these particular features and reveal what that tells us about how people are using your event listings more broadly – even if you don’t have filters or in-page menus on your website.
- Find out more and sign up
Indigo's NPO checking tool
The next round of NPO applications is approaching, and we know that many of you are preparing for your upcoming application, which will cover the new five-year funding period.
Indigo has designed a rapid health check to help you score your organisation's readiness in providing the audience evidence you'll need for your upcoming application.
This free, 2-minute self-assessment will ask six questions, covering the six areas of audience evidence they believe will separate strong applications:
1. Local citizen insight
2. Reach compared with your local population
3. Awareness among the culturally engaged
4. Your audience data foundation
5. Five-year baselines and targets
6. Your evidence narrative.
You’ll get an instant readiness report showing where you’re on track, where you’re partial, and where the gaps are - plus you'll receive a copy by email to share with colleagues or your board.
Freelance social media assistance from Adam Koszary
Adam Koszary has made a career of helping galleries, libraries, archives and museums with social media and content strategy, governance and production. He used to do just that and more at The MERL, where he was responsible for the smash absolute unit meme.
And now he's going freelance to help cultural organisations succeed on social. If you want to create fun and impactful content, make the case for content within your organisation or just want a critical friend, then he is here for that.
Forest School and Outdoor Learning Training
Muddy Puddle Outdoor Learning offers nationally recognised qualifications in Forest School and Outdoor Learning, and they currently have some training available for anyone looking to step up when it comes to stepping outside:
Outdoor Learning Practitioner - Gain skills and confidence in using your grounds for curriculum delivery.
Forest School Leader Level 3 - This course is designed for those who would like to set up and run a Forest School programmes. There are five Units of Study at Level 3.
Space opportunity!
Reading Biscuit Factory - Located at the end of Oxford Road, right in the heart of town, Reading Biscuit Factory is a new three-screen cinema, bar, coffee shop, live performance space and community hub. Our aim is to offer a fantastic and welcoming venue that embraces Reading’s rich and vibrant culture, and create a setting where everyone can relax, work, meet, create and perform - all under one roof.
We want to hear from anybody with a bright idea who wants a partner to help make it happen. If you have a film you would like to screen, a rehearsal or workshop you would like to organise, art you would like to exhibit, or you are a food vendor or other business looking for a host, we would love to help.
Contact Us
For individuals, groups or organisations, for general enquiries email info@readingbiscuitfactory.co.uk