York will welcome hundreds of senior creative-industry leaders next week as it hosts the Aesthetica Film Festival.
Taking place between 4 - 8 November, the BAFTA-Qualifying film festival will bring together people and organisations shaping the future of film, television, games, visual effects, virtual production, XR, design, animation and digital media.
The festival represents an important opportunity to use the city’s unique UNESCO City of Media Arts status to attract national and international creative-sector expertise to the region – while creating practical opportunities for local businesses to make connections, develop partnerships and access new markets.
During the week, the UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO will feature 40 creative businesses from York and North Yorkshire and across the wider region, with companies including Orillo, Pollen Studio, Pilot Theatre, Revolution Software, Viridian FX and Beckview Studios. Businesses represented at the EXPO have worked with some of the world's biggest names, including BBC, Channel 4, ITV, Netflix, Sky, Apple TV+, HBO, Adidas and Pepsi.
Mayor David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said:
“Aesthetica brings together industry leaders from across the world to celebrate everything the creative industries has to offer.
“Bringing together York’s UNESCO City of Media Arts status and the creative sector in York and North Yorkshire we can really see the huge impact that is being made not just in our county, but across the world, by creatives who live and work here all year round."
York is the only UNESCO City of Media Arts in the UK, giving the city a distinctive international platform from which to champion its creative economy. The EXPO builds on that position by connecting the city's creative community with national and international networks attending the Aesthetica Film Festival.
Cherie Federico, Director of Aesthetica, said:
“Aesthetica has always been about creating connections – between artists and audiences, emerging talent and established industry, and ideas and opportunities. The EXPO takes that approach into the business environment.
“We are bringing hundreds of senior leaders and decision-makers from across the creative industries to York, alongside businesses from the region and beyond. That creates an extraordinary opportunity for people to meet, share expertise and develop new partnerships.
“York's UNESCO City of Media Arts designation gives us a fantastic platform. It enables us to say to the creative industries: come to York, see what is happening here, meet the businesses, discover the talent and be part of the conversation about where the sector goes next.”
Opening up access for creative businesses
A central part of the EXPO is ensuring that the opportunities created by bringing senior industry figures to York are accessible to the region's creative businesses – particularly SMEs, entrepreneurs and emerging companies.
Alongside the exhibition, the EXPO will host a free Creative Business Workshop Programme presented by York Business School at York St John University. It gives businesses access to practical expertise from some of the UK's leading creative-industry organisations. The workshops are open to the wider creative ecosystem and do not require an Aesthetica Film Festival pass.
The programme covers some of the key challenges facing creative businesses as they look to grow, including investment readiness, pitching, intellectual property, international expansion, building business relationships, co-production, creative clusters, audience development and long-term business growth.
The UNESCO City of Media Arts EXPO takes place at De Grey Rooms, York, on 5–6 November, alongside the Aesthetica Film Festival.
Entry to the EXPO and the Creative Business Workshops is free, and no Aesthetica Film Festival pass is required.