Mahon to headline Creative Cities

Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon is to explain her plans to move hundreds of jobs out of the broadcaster’s London HQ at an event in Leeds, Yorkshire, next month.

Alex Mahon

Mahon will headline the inaugural Creative Cities Convention, which takes place on April 25 and 26 and is jointly funded by C4 and fellow UK broadcasters the BBC, ITV and Channel 5 plus independent producers’ trade body Pact.

Earlier this month Mahon confirmed C4’s plans to establish a national headquarters outside London along with two smaller creative hubs in the nations and regions, housing 300 C4 employees, including key decision makers.

Leeds is among the cities to have put itself forward for the new hub, along with others such as Glasgow, Bristol, Liverpool, Stoke, Cardiff and Belfast.

Mahon, the former CEO of Shine Group, will be joined by other leading industry figures such as ITV chair Sir Peter Bazalgette, Channel 5 director of programmes Ben Frow, Endemol Shine chief creative officer Peter Salmon and screenwriters Lisa Holdsworth (New Tricks) and Kay Mellor (Girlfriends) at the event.

The primary aim of the conference is to review content production and distribution across the UK, and to discuss issues such as gender inequality and social mobility.

“At a time when our industry is in the spotlight for its lack of diversity, regional imbalance and gender inequality, it is imperative that we create a forum for these issues to be confronted and solutions sought,” said Ruth Pitt, director of the Creative Cities Convention.

“More names are still to be announced and I’m looking forward to a packed agenda and some heated discussions about the future of content in a world of digital distribution, social media muscle and change across Europe.”