Baltic Triangle Area CIC, a creative community group in Liverpool, has elected its first female chairperson.
Journalist Fiona Shaw has been selected to lead the collective after Liam Kelly stepped down from the role to concentrate on social trading organisation Make CIC.
The Baltic Triangle area has come a long way since it’s rebirth as the city’s creative quarter. Abandoned old warehouse buildings are now thriving with creative businesses, new apartments, hotels, restaurants, bars and events spaces.
In 2016 a government report anointed The Baltic Triangle, which has seen £128 million of investment since 2012, in the top five fastest growing creative and digital clusters outside London. An eye-watering £600m of developments are in its new plans.
Shaw has been a key part of the district’s success over the past few years, as well as being a director of WordScapes, a local business providing publishing and copywriting services.
She has also played an integral role in the creation of the area’s 2019 vision manifesto that has been crucial to planning and new initiatives for the area that includes plans for a new train station.
“As a business tenant over the last 10 years, I’m looking forward to taking on the chair role for Baltic Triangle CIC as we begin to emerge from the pandemic,” said Shaw. “Baltic Triangle’s residents and businesses have changed over the last two years, and our role is to provide a voice for them all.
“With a new station in the plans and new businesses, venues and visitors arriving all the time, it’s an exciting time to be in Baltic.”
The body is now set to recruit more board members to complement a growing portfolio of venues, education services, art and culture.
Area communications director Russell Gannon said: “When it came to appointing a new chair, Fiona was the unanimous choice. She is an inspiring community leader with a wealth of experience that will push the CIC into 2022.
“She has been instrumental in helping us create a vision for the future with big plans such as the new train station, so she’s the perfect forward thinking choice.
“The station is a huge project that will naturally take a little time to implement but there’s going to be lots of exciting developments in the meantime. Fiona knows the area very well and the recent engagement from the community has given us some really useful feedback, so we’re looking to host more events and community initiatives.
“There have been some great new businesses popping up here recently and we’re excited to welcome more in 2022.”