The Story
of Blick
Our journey since 2007
How it all came about
We started way back in 2007 when a group of creatives returning to Northern Ireland from working or studying abroad met on an Ulster University and NESTA course for creative entrepreneurs. We quickly realised the value of working in a room together and also that there weren’t many suitable facilities in Belfast for creative freelancers and small business owners. There were art studios and commercial properties, but not much in between. We soon decided we wanted to set up a shared studio space together to work on our creative businesses and soon other creatives started approaching us and the idea for Blick grew from there.
Our ambition with Blick was to create beautiful but affordable spaces in great locations in Belfast for professional creatives to work productively and creatively in. Spaces for like-minded creatives to meet and share resources, ideas and inspiration and encourage, support and inspire each other. Spaces that could survive and support creatives long term and be financially sustainable and independent.
As the idea grew and evolved, Christine took over managing Blick while others in the group focused on their own creative businesses. Christine’s sister Rosy came on board as a volunteer initially to manage the financial side of the organisation. Together they have been managing Blick since 2007.
We started with £5000 in a warehouse in the city centre before securing startup funding from Ulster University and Belfast City Council to move into our Malone Studios where we then worked hard to build a financially sustainable social enterprise model that allows us to support creatives with space, services and support without relying on funding longterm.
Now we operate as a non-profit, social purpose offering shared and private studio space to more than 65 creatives across 3 beautiful buildings within Belfast. We also provide virtual office services and run different events, workshops and projects to help build community and support creatives in Belfast.
You can see more of our story below and find our more about our aims & values, our impact and our projects.
Blick now provides creative shared workspace and private studio space to more than 65 creatives across 3 different buildings in Belfast as well as virtual office services to over 90 creatives and an annual programme of events and projects to help creatives in Northern Ireland.
We are currently working towards Belfast Design Week happening in May 2026
You can see information on our different projects and events, as well as regular blogs including links to funding and opportunities for creatives and lots of downloadable resources to help you start and grow your own creative business to grow here.
In 2025 we settled into our new Great Northern Street studios, finished The Nurture Programme and we worked on a large variety of talks, workshops and projects for local creatives including
- Blick Creative Talks with local creatives telling their story
- Working with Belfast Design Week on the Islands of Design Project for Irish Design Week
- Working with local artists as part of the Arts Council of Northern Ireland Finance Fair
- ‘Getting Retail Ready’ Fieldtrip for Ulster University students
- Creative Brunch with Innovate UK
- Any many more! You can see all of our events on the Events section of our website
2024 was a year of change, travel, hard work and exciting new opportunities! We left our first studios on the Malone Road after 15 years and moved to new premises on Great Northern Street just off the Lisburn Road in South Belfast.
We gratefully received funding from Belfast City Council for Nurture an incubation program, providing free workspace, mentoring and business support for 4 emerging creatives.
Throughout the year we heard the inspiring stories of 5 different local creatives at our Blick academy and Womenfolk events.
We travelled to Malmo in Sweden and Bologna and Venice in Italy for creative Hubs research and to Hong Kong to create a design installation for the British Council Hong Kong Spark Healthy Futures Festival in October called Design Your Life.
2023 was another busy year with lots of wonderful travel opportunities. Starting in January with a Belfast Design Week trip to Hanoi Vietnam. October then brought a European Creative Hubs trip to European Creative Skills Week in Vienna then in November we attended the Creative Flip Conference in Brussels.
In collaboration with Creating A Space, we created Our Time is Now, a video podcast series sharing the stories of 5 Belfast Creatives.
We also worked with Belfast Design Week and VentureFolk on a new project combining design and growing and in the summer we produced a program of Summer events and workshops for Belfast creatives.
In 2021 we finished our Womenfolk Dig Deep Programme supporting 27 young creative women on their journey to start their own creative businesses with weekly resources including 10 industry expert videos on topics including A DIY Guide on Creating Your Own Brand, A DIY Guide on Setting up a Website A DIY Guide on Instagram and A DIY Guide on Photographing Your Work for the broader creative community.
We also worked with Belfast Design Week to launch My Block, a directory to celebrate and champion independent business and culture in Northern Ireland.
In 2020 the Covid-19 pandemic closed our studios for three months. It also gave us the opportunity to run a creative enterprise programme for young women called Dig Deep which supported 27 young women over a 9-month period to start their own creative businesses.
We hosted a podcast series on the impact of the pandemic on creatives and also expanded our Popup Design Museum during Belfast Design Week. Exhibiting design work by local designers in the windows of independent venues throughout Belfast City Centre to create an interactive but covid safe activity for the public.
In 2018 we launched our sister company, creative consultancy Flock, to bring together the creatives involved with Blick to work on different multidisciplinary creative projects.
In 2017 we set up a new venture called Womenfolk to celebrate and promote women creative entrepreneurs.
We were excited to be involved again with Belfast Design Week in its 3rd year & new design events such as Late Night Design.
We moved from 52 Hill Street to Cotton Court in the Cathedral Quarter – a building full of creative companies.
Supporting more creatives
Increased income from growing our organisation gave us the opportunity to expand the free support we provide for creative entrepreneurs, including:
- Blick Academy for Creative Startups
- Share 6 inspirational talks for creative entrepreneurs
- 25 Pop-Up
- The Faculty workshops and courses
- Creative Business Bootcamp
- Belfast Design Week
- Graduate residency programme
Growing more
We opened Eighty81 Creative Workspace in Derry-Londonderry, providing workspace for 18 businesses as well as the Nest incubation program, creative events and support.
In Belfast, there was a growing market for our services, so we opened a second set of premises in Belfast’s Cathedral Quarter, providing workspace for an additional 18 businesses.
2015 was the year of Irish Design, and we secured funding to run a variety of design events and co-founded Belfast Design Week.
Expanding to the North West
We secured a 3-year contract to manage the creative hub in Ebrington in Derry/Londonderry to provide incubation space, workspace and events and support for the creative industries within the city.
We developed the brand and concept for Eighty81 Creative Workspace on behalf of Ilex Urban Regeneration.
Growing Blick
We moved into our first Cathedral Quarter premises allowing us to provide space for an additional 15 businesses.
With the premises being so close to Ulster University, we were able to connect more with students and startups and build our existing creative community through meetups and events.
Creative events
From 2008 – 2010 we ran a variety of events and courses to support small and startup creative businesses within Belfast, including Blick Business Blitz and the Evolve Programme.
We saw a need to create more interactive and engaging enterprise events and set up Creative Camp Belfast – an interactive un-conference style event designed to connect local creative entrepreneurs and encourage them to share their stories and speak on various topics.
Moving into Malone
With support from Ulster University and Belfast City Council we moved into our first permanent space at 51 Malone Road.
We focused on becoming independently sustainable by renting our studio spaces, event spaces and offering virtual services. By the end of 2008, we provided space to 15 different creative businesses.
By Creatives, for Creatives
Blick was set up by a group of creative entrepreneurs struggling to find suitable creative studio space in Belfast.
Our first studio was a rented warehouse in the City Centre which we set up with the help of £5,000 from UnLtd.
