Experienced arts consultant Max May has been appointed at chief officer of culture partnership HEY Creative.
May joins as HEY Creative with a focus on developing creative partnerships spanning business, education, health and the public sector in Hull and East Yorkshire (HEY).
May is a well-known and respected figure on the Yorkshire arts and culture scene. He is currently strategic director at North Yorkshire Together, which supports communities across the county to live happy and healthy lives.
Prior to that, May was CEO at Rural Arts, helping to shape and steer North Yorkshire’s creative and cultural sectors.
HEY Creative is Hull and East Yorkshire’s Cultural Compact – one of over 30 such organisations established by Arts Council England and the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.
Cultural Compacts are partnerships designed to support the regional cultural sector to contribute to economic success, placemaking, community cohesion and personal wellbeing.
May said: “I’m thrilled to be working with HEY Creative and to take on an exciting role at the heart of the region’s cultural sector. I’ve always felt passionately that culture and creativity can make everyone’s lives better. Having those more central in peoples’ lives and in decision making can help us all live healthier, happier lives.
“A big focus for me is to champion the region’s creative sector, both nationally and internationally. In my recent career I’ve been really focused on the importance of cross-sector collaboration, bringing together the public, private and third sectors and showcasing how creativity is vital in all areas of life, and I’m looking forward to doing the same with HEY Creative.”
Dominic Gibbons, chair of HEY Creative, added: “Max’s background and what he has already achieved in the creative sector meant he was a perfect fit for what we were looking for. He is a strategic thinker and has a proven track record of bringing different people and organisations together in a collaborative way.”
HEY Creative’s board is chaired by Gibbons, managing director of Hull-based commercial property development and investment business Wykeland Group, with Hull Truck Theatre co-CEO Janthi Mills-Ward as vice-chair.
