#IWD2025: Creative Women - Alex O' Toole

International Women's Day (IWD) is an annual global event celebrating women and their achievements.  

First initiated in 1911, IWD has since grown into a global movement encouraging us to stand up for a more diverse, equitable and inclusive world, free of discrimination and stereotypes.

According to World Economic Forum at the current rate of progress, gender parity is only expected to be achieved in 2158, five generations from now.

This year's campaign theme is #AccelerateAction, emphasising the important need for us to take swift and decisive steps to speed up the rate of action, so we can achieve gender parity sooner.

As part of our #IWD2025 "Creative Women" Series, meet Alex O'Toole, a creative director, producer and writer. 

Alex is also Chair of Arts Lancashire, Director of Northern Soul Productions, and the Founder of Good Creator.

Alex, what is your connection to Lancashire?

I was born and raised on the Lancashire coast, where I completed my education up to sixth form. After university, I returned to the county to work and be close to family. 

With a long career in the creative industries, I later broadened my focus to the cultural sector. Today, I lead Arts Lancashire, the county’s strategic voice for independent arts and culture. 

Over the years my various roles have enabled me to work all over the world, but there’s something about the wide-open skies on the Fylde Coast that make it difficult to imagine living anywhere else. I even wrote a poem about it. It’s called 'This Place'.

What inspires or motivates your creative practice?

As a writer, I suppose I write to understand myself – I’ve come to realise it’s a form of self-care in many ways, but I’ve always loved the action of writing and the beauty of language. 

Most of my most challenging personal experiences have been worked out on the page and this usually translates into poetry in the first instance. Sometimes that will develop into fiction, but fiction takes time and lately I’ve been short of that.

I keep a notebook and pen on me at all times in case inspiration strikes and, where possible, I use public transport instead of driving so my mind can wander. Something about movement seems to spark my imagination.

I love poetry because it cuts straight to the essence of a subject, it’s intense, efficient, and beautifully expressive. Sometimes things that people have said, or something that I’ve read or seen - a film, an artwork - will give me a way into exploring whatever it is I’m feeling or thinking about. 

More often than not it will be something in nature and landscape that will trigger an idea and that is often an undercurrent in my work.

As a creative director and producer, I’m inspired by the big challenges and motivated by big, ambitious ideas – the ones that can expand thinking, shift mindsets and change behaviours. If I have a skill, it is in being able to distill complex problems into a creative concept or an organising principle that allows others to understand how they can respond to it.

For that reason, collaboration and partnership working are big elements of my practice as a creative producer. I like bringing people together around a collective issue to develop an approach through which everyone around the table has a part to play in resolving or championing it.

More broadly, I’m motivated by the transformative power and value of arts and culture. There is nothing soft about it. Art is a shortcut to understanding, expressing, imagining and realizing what needs to be understood, said or done. Whatever you’re looking to discover, the arts will take you there faster.

I'm passionate about the fundamental role of arts and culture in shaping who we are, what we're made of, and how we connect with the world around us. Access to culture brings places to life and strengthens the bond between people and their communities. This belief is what drives me in my role at Arts Lancashire.

Any advice for women starting out or making their mark in creative industries?

Serve Your Work

There is no one else who can serve your work better than you. There are lots of people who can help you along the way, but you are absolutely the best person to drive what happens to you in the way that you want it to happen. 

This isn’t about being self-serving. Nor is it about working in isolation. It’s about honouring your own efforts, doing your absolute best for yourself and for your creativity on your own terms and in your own time. 

You don’t need anyone’s permission to create opportunity for yourself.

Cherry Pick Opportunity

We all need to make a living, but trying to be everything to everyone can have a negative impact on your trajectory. 

True creative fulfilment and maintaining ongoing career success comes from being selective and focusing on the subjects, places and people you have a genuine connection to - the things that inspire your flow without you having to search for the spark. 

If you have the courage to only go for the work that speaks to you, you’ll find that life will become simpler as a result. You’ll become more inspired and good things will follow.

As a Creative Director and Producer how do you think we can accelerate action to build momentum in addressing systemic barriers and biases?

I’m not sure things have changed as much as we like to think—not for those who face barriers and bias every day. While we’ve become more comfortable talking about inequality and acknowledging systemic barriers, the old attitudes and infrastructure largely remain intact.

Culture shapes attitudes, and attitudes drive change. But if culture is a reflection of society, then we still have a long way to go.

The arts have the power to challenge perspectives, shift narratives, and push society forward—but only if access, representation, and decision-making truly reflect diversity. Too often, the same gatekeepers control opportunities, reinforcing existing inequalities rather than dismantling them.

Expanding access doesn’t mean lowering standards—it means ensuring talent isn’t overlooked due to systemic barriers. True merit isn’t just about raw ability; it’s about opportunity, access, and the space to develop skills in a fair environment. Right now, many talented individuals never get the chance to enter the conversation, let alone thrive within it.

To accelerate action, we need to move beyond conversation and commit to real, measurable change. That means funding and supporting underrepresented creatives, ensuring leadership roles are diverse, and embedding equity into hiring, commissioning, and programming. It also means rethinking education and early career pathways to ensure opportunities aren’t limited by privilege or connections.

The goal is to build a creative sector where the best ideas, the strongest work, and the most innovative voices can rise—regardless of background or circumstance. This requires proactive, structural change, but the result will be a richer, more dynamic creative landscape where merit is genuinely recognised and rewarded.

Across the county, plans are currently being developing and funded for district specific initiatives to drive up creative skills and employability. Blackburn with Darwen has been the first to succeed, securing £760K in Place Partnership funding from Arts Council England for a two-year programme that will and nurture and retain the creativity of young people in the borough, addressing historic gaps in creative and cultural provision.

At a county-wide level, Arts Lancashire hosts a quarterly online event called ‘Culture Lab’, bringing together the county’s cultural sector to tackle the big issues affecting access to the arts in Lancashire. The aim is not just to discuss challenges but to drive collective action toward solutions.

So far, ‘Culture Lab’ has led to the development of new countywide plans for culture and creativity, the formation of key partnerships, and funding applications for programmes designed to expand access to culture and creativity. Of course, large scale investment takes time to secure, and we’re still waiting on results, but make no mistake—Lancashire’s cultural sector has both the will and the drive to make change happen.

About International Women's Day

International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women.

It calls for increased momentum and urgency in addressing the systemic barriers and biases that women face, both in personal and professional spheres.

So, together, let's Accelerate Action and speed up the rate of progress worldwide

Imagine a gender equal world. A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that's diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge women's equality and  accelerate Action for gender equality.  

InternationalWomensDay.com

Other Image Credits:

Arts Lancashire

•  In Governance We Trust conference - image credit: Henry Iddon
• Lancashire Arts Exchange - image credit: Michael Porter

Creative Direction, Producing and Writing 

• Dare To Be Great: Image Credits : Alex O'Toole
• Fleeting Images (in boat): Image Credit: Morecambe Bay Partnership: Headlands to Headspace Archive