“Everyone’s calling me the mayor, so I need the mayor to listen to me,” Liam Heeley, co-founder of Manchester-based brand and community platform HEADS Creative, tells me. “I just need him to give me half an hour, because I’ll save the city.”
Tucked away on a quiet corner of Atherton Street, I’m sitting inside Manchester’s new Soho House under the warm, orange-tinged lighting in reception and there’s plenty of plush sofas you could easily sink into for a few hours.
Those sofas are soon filled by members paying over £200 a month for access to the exclusive club house. But there’s an irony to this interview setting that’s hard to ignore, as 24-year-old Liam Heeley is here to talk about Manchester’s grassroots creatives who are ‘struggling to survive’, or even get a foot on the ladder.
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Upstairs, the ninth floor is already heaving, so we find a quieter corner for the next hour, with the backdrop of Manchester’s growing creative district, St John’s, stretching out behind us through floor-to-ceiling windows.
Joined by his HEADS co-founder, Molly Ball, the duo explain how they are now at the centre of a campaign that positions Heeley as the voice for the city’s creative community.
It stems from a petition, set up by photographer Natalia Rog, calling on Manchester City Council, Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA), and relevant government bodies to support Manchester’s grassroots creatives by engaging with Heeley and “ensure his insights” help shape local cultural policy.
Although they did receive an initial response from the council, Heeley said it was “too late” to wait for future meeting dates and, insisting action was needed now, instead set up what they’re calling the ‘Manchester Creative Council’.
Its mission is to “connect creatives across Manchester with the resources and support, to help them excel in their craft”.
The self-styled Manchester Creative Council’s Instagram page has already amassed over 2,000 followers in just over a month. So, who is Liam Heeley? And is he the right person to steer a campaign to ‘save’ Manchester’s creatives?
Who is Liam Heeley, the man behind HEADS Creative?
As the most “accessible” way into the creative industry ten years ago, Heeley picked up his camera, started posting outfit photos on his Instagram page, and began building a brand for himself.
By the age of 16, he was being invited to PR events and launches and soon found himself freelancing full‑time. The work took him around the world, where he claims to have worked with Lady Gaga in Hollywood, toured with Jeffree Star, and later collaborated with Floyd Mayweather on a boohooMAN collection.
After years in what he describes as the “crazy” freelance world, he returned to Manchester with a different ambition – to build what he calls a “people‑based brand”.
“In America, everyone’s connected, from the producers with the artists, to the photographers and the venues,” he explains. “It’s a massive ecosystem. I saw what Hollywood had, came back to Manchester, and realised we have everything. But there was a gap when it came to connecting people.”
Molly Ball, who grew up in Harrogate, explains how she struggled to find her footing as a creative in a “small town” before meeting Heeley in York to discuss a magazine idea, which would later become the beginnings of HEADS Creative.
“I wanted to do something that was impactful and make a difference, but I wasn’t supported in the right ways.” And, after initially visiting Manchester four years ago to visit Heeley, she never left.
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“I fell in love with the city and the people. I finally felt seen,” she says. “With Liam’s experience and network, and our joint desire to help creative people in their need to be recognised, I didn’t want people to go through what I did. That’s what fuels HEADS.”
What started out as a photography project in 2022 soon turned into a magazine, then an exhibition. Before they knew it, they had an event with over 200 creatives. Through dozens of events that followed, the duo began matching creative talent with work, building relationships with clients, and producing content.
“When it came to building HEADS from the get-go, the mission was always about connecting people that, in our eyes, should have already been connected.”
Today, HEADS describes itself as a brand offering agency‑style services, although Ball is careful with its definition.
“We’re not an agency,” she explains. “We offer different kinds of support. We’re not always money‑driven. It’s about opportunities and growth for our community.”
Boasting clients from MediaCity, Manchester United, Afflecks, Footlocker, to the likes of Sneak Energy, it all sounds impressive.
But three and a half years in, Heeley explains that while they’ve been able to give opportunities to both emerging and established creatives, they still need more support in what they deem a fragile creative ecosystem. And he firmly believes he’s the right person to drive that change.
Heeley is adamant that the goal with HEADS, after plunging some of his own cash into supporting creative events, is less about money and more about “making social change”.
“We see the bigger picture. If we don’t do it, somebody needs to do it.”
He pauses before opening up about his own experiences: “I’ve been manipulated as a freelancer by a public figure. I turned to drugs. Then I started HEADS. The company’s birth came from realising that I didn’t want this to happen to anyone else. I’ve seen how easy it is — like anything in life — for people not to recognise your value or worth,” he reveals. “I was completely broken.”
Those experiences, he says, fuel the determination behind his efforts to reshape the city’s grassroots creative landscape.
“If every founder from Manchester put 1% back into the grassroots, we’d be sorted. I’m putting in my 1% and I ain’t got no money. So if these people making millions put 1% in, it would be fixed. The council has been trying to fix this grassroots problem. I’ve got the solution. I can fix it tomorrow. Just give me £10k.”
A voice for creatives
The petition points to the £100bn contribution the UK’s creative industries make to the economy each year, arguing that those benefits “only exist if creatives are able to survive, grow, and innovate locally”.
With “no formal support fighting for these creatives”, it highlights how the average grassroots artist “often earns as little as £40 per show”.
It adds: “Supporting community-led leaders like Liam helps ensure that policy decisions reflect real-world creative realities, not just top-down strategies.
“By recognising and engaging with leaders who are already embedded in Manchester’s creative community on the ground, the city can strengthen its cultural future while staying true to its grassroots identity.”
Growing “impatient” while waiting for a response from the council, Heeley says he decided to take matters into his own hands, tapping into his own network to launch the Manchester Creative Council. He describes its purpose as providing a platform to “ask for what Manchester’s creatives need”.
“We want it to be a committee and a space filled with people from different backgrounds to share their experiences, what’s needed, what’s missing, and what they need. It’s got to be with their voice.”
Currently, their self-styled Creative Council committee consists only of Heeley, Ball and photographer Natalia Rog, but he insists that will soon change.
“The problem’s a lot bigger than us. There’s only so much we can do, and there’s so many people that need help, and they all look to HEADS at the moment, and that’s quite a lot of pressure. But if we can create this new platform that educates and connects people, it’s something that could eventually run on its own.”
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He claims “some of the biggest brands in the world” have already expressed interest in working with the Manchester Creative Council, attracted by its promise to “give a platform or a voice for all creatives”.
Out of hundreds of comments on the Creative Council’s Instagram page, creatives are calling for two things: equipping emerging talent with the “belief” they need to establish themselves as creatives, and tackling the “education gap” and lack of early-stage support.
“I’ll do it whether I’ve got funding or not”
There’s one question that isn’t addressed in the petition or in the Creative Council statement: how will grassroots creatives be supported with ‘real resources’? The pair are dismissive of government funding, which they describe as slow, full of processes and “not creative friendly”.
“The reason I’ve never got funding is I don’t need it. If there’s an idea, I’m going to do it tomorrow. I’m not going to apply for funding and wait for six months. I’ll do it whether I’ve got funding or not,” says Heeley.
Asked what he actually wants from Manchester City Council or the GMCA, his answer is both “trust” and funding.
“I just want them to support me. In terms of boots on the ground stuff, I’ll do that myself. I’ve made artists’ money with £0. If the council gave me £10,000, I could turn that into £500,000. Trust me, that’s all I need. I’ve broken down the blueprint of where it could go, and how it can be invested.”
He insists funding is “not an obstacle” and would “just be another way” to help the duo champion the things creatives need.
“If there are pots of money for the creative scene, they need to know where to put that,” he explains. “We want to be part of the voice to help navigate where the funding is going, making sure it’s going to the right places and doing the right things.”
“I’m doing the mayor’s job for Manchester”
Heeley’s key message to Greater Manchester’s mayor, Andy Burnham, is a plea: “Please give me 30 minutes. I’m not even gonna ask for money, I’ll tell you about the £10,000, but if you can’t offer that and can offer some other support – that’s all we need.
“Right now, I’m doing the mayor’s job for Manchester, so I want the mayor to listen to what I’m saying,” he proclaims.
“Everyone’s calling me the mayor, I’m not calling myself it. I appreciate he’s busy, but I just need him to give me half an hour, because I’ll save the city.”
It’s a bold statement and sounds slightly like he’s some sort of Batman for Manchester’s creative scene — minus the cape, armed instead with a level of confidence that, to some, might read as arrogance.
“There can’t be someone working as hard as me for the city and not be acknowledged by the council or the government. It just doesn’t make sense.”
A recent Reddit thread titled ‘Manchester creatives BEWARE of HEADS CREATIVE’ makes a series of allegations about how HEADS operates with creatives and claims the campaign is a ‘fluff piece’ for Heeley. I attempted to verify those claims but received no response from the original poster.
Heeley has seen the thread and insists the allegations are “100% false”.
“It’s just a relationship that’s gone. The thing is, you either love me, get inspired by me or hate me.
“My confidence comes from having to rebuild myself. Photographing every single celebrity, earning over £100,000. Simone Riley on BBC radio called me ‘Mr. Manchester’. Manchester United asked me to take a penalty at Old Trafford. I’m confident because I’m doing so many positive things. Every day.”
Later this month, Manchester Creative Council is gearing up to host its first event, which Heeley says has already attracted 400 sign‑ups.
It’s still early days, so only time will tell whether the Manchester Creative Council will become the voice Manchester’s creatives have been waiting for. What is clear, though, is that Heeley is confident he is the right person to lead it.
