Where is the next area of growth for the co-operative movement? Is it within advancing industries, such as the tech sector, who often embody co-operative values like openness and democracy? Could the next phase of the movement be about ‘Making Co-ops Cool’ by having Tik-Tok-famous co-operative influencers ? Or is the next step for co-operative innovation held at the grassroots level?
Returning to the disruptive pioneering roots of the movement, a co-operative development body based in Preston, Lancashire, believes they have the next generation of makers, movers, and shakers. Preston Cooperative Development Network (PCDN), set up in 2017 to support the development of co-operatives in and around Preston, has lately turned its focus on empowering artists and women from marginalised communities to begin their own co-operative enterprises through two training programmes: CoLab and Lady Boss.
The first cohort of the Lady Boss programme, run in early 2025, have since started their own catering enterprise, and are now beginning to incorporate the second cohort into the co-operative. The CoLab group, meanwhile, after visiting the artist co-operative at Northlight Art Studios in Hebden Bridge, were inspired to form their own artist co-operative, and are now in search of a building.
Preston City Council has been supporting the two programmes run by Aysha Patel and Jonny Cosmo through allocation of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. The Mayor of Preston, Councillor Sue Whittam, has also shown her support by formally awarding each of the programme’s participants with a certificate, the ceremony of which was held in Preston’s newly refurbished Harris Museum, Art Gallery and Library.
The two training programmes aimed to set up local people with the means for starting their own co-operative enterprise. Preston Cooperative Development Network works adjacent to the Preston Model, a civil procurement strategy akin to the shop-local movement, based on Mondragon. Already there are many organisations working to enhance the overall wellbeing of local people. PCDN works closely with social enterprise and grassroots organisations to develop the co-operative economy in the city area. “It’s about being at the heart of communities, and working from the ground up,” says Lady Boss course leader Aysha, who is also founder of Kind Communities CIC and a Barefoot co-operative and community business development advisor.
Creative Enterprise for Co-operative Economies
CoLab: Creative Enterprise for Artists was designed and coordinated by me – Jonny Cosmo, local artist, writer, activist, Barefoot community business advisor, and founder of Pressed Town Zine. The idea behind CoLab came from a belief that art and culture are instrumental aspects to the kaleidoscope of civil participation we exist within. Culture is a space where the economic and social intersect, so why not begin from that standpoint? Art is an exchange of ideas, therefore why not utilise this exchange of ideas for the sake of the solidarity economy? CoLab also came as a response to Arts Council funding figures which revealed that Preston was at the very bottom for receiving arts council funding nationally. Yet, the cultural offering in Preston is unable to grow without sufficient arts organisations to support it. Helping artists start their own businesses lays the groundwork for a more sustainable cultural infrastructure, enabling them to focus on their own creative practice, access funding for projects or development, make a viable living and increase the overall well being of the city.
Instead of posing the question, ‘How can X help the cooperative movement?’, we are asking: ‘How can the co-operative movement support X?’ The co-operative sector has a PR problem. Arguably, as does the city of Preston. The arts could be an effective solution to this. Artists are innovators; they push the boundaries of possibility. In regards to CoLab, the idea is that by supporting artists to join the co-operative sector, you subsequently get more interesting and innovative co-operatives.
The creative economy is often overlooked as a viable means for development, perhaps because of its close proximity to the third sector. Rather than being renowned as a viable and vastly productive section of the economy, it’s seen more as recreational finger-painting in the local community centre rather than the creative force behind every increment of media consumed on a daily basis; a force behind social, political, and cultural movements; a foundation of social life. CoLab could provide cultural access through local, co-operative ownership. If the means of production can be seized, so too can the means of creation.
There are those who already acknowledge the significance of arts and culture. Positive experimentation in solidarity economics with Ireland’s Basic Income for artists (BIA) reportedly returned €100 million to the economy, or €1.39 for every €1 spent. Perhaps supporting the creative industries in the UK as much could provide a similar benefit.
The results of artist co-operatives speak for themselves. In the UK, in larger cities, artist co-operatives are integral to the cultural offering and the creative scenes: putting on community gatherings, innovating events and activities, and demonstrating that the arts are a viable career path. In the US, statistics show that artists who work part-time and pay for studio space are able to dedicate around 4 hours a week to their creative practice, whereas artists who work and live within housing co-operatives are able to dedicate 27 hours to their practice per week.
The CoLab training programme featured expert speakers from across the creative industries, entrepreneurship, and co-operatives. Oihane Amurrio, artist, educator and cultural entrepreneur spoke on her experience as an artist within the co-operative sector and why these two pursuits align so well. Oihane is a member of Tazebaez, a co-operative ‘innovation agency’ focused on creating educational programmes for social impact business development or co-operative cultural entrepreneurship. Joseph Buglass, Hub and Enterprise Manager at Centre for SME and Enterprise Development, University of Lancashire, spoke on the ‘business model canvas’ to get participants to start thinking about the totality of the product or service they were going to be offering. This was followed by sessions with John Atherton, a seasoned co-operative development advisor, on the ‘co-operative model canvas’, while Mark Ashmore, founder of Future Artists, and award-winning producer, director, and social entrepreneur, spoke on relevant funding avenues.
The vision for CoLab is to provide affordable artists’ studios – something that is massively lacking in the city of Preston – which would provide local artists with the space and means to develop their practices. In addition, the group envisaged recording and photography studios for hire, as well as resources and equipment available for artists to use, such as a darkroom, media suite, and ceramics studio – usually only available within university art departments. There would also be a larger community or event space that could be used for exhibitions, workshops, or gigs, by individuals or groups in the local area. And of course, a café – what creative organisation would be complete without somewhere to caffeinate those who use the space? The group are now in search of a building where creativity, culture, and community can come together under one roof.
Lady Boss: Structured Catering Enterprise Training
Whilst working with women in marginalised communities, Aysha noticed transferable skills that could be nurtured to start their own business. Preston has consistently ranked within the top 20% of most deprived areas on the Multiple Deprivation Index since the year 2000. A 2021 census revealed that almost a third of residents identified their ethnicity as something ‘other than white’. Minoritised communities are still excluded, or not intentionally included, by most mainstream enterprise schemes.
PCDN, working in conjunction with Kind Communities CIC, designed and delivered a structured culinary enterprise training programme to address the needs of this community, using entrepreneurship by co-operative design. The first cohort engaged ten non-registered, home-based female cooks from minority communities who were each interested in starting a food business and gaining the necessary qualifications to do so. The course consisted of six full-day workshops, followed by guided group support and mentoring from those who had faced similar challenges to those in the group. A catering co-op was operational by the end of the programme, and fittingly invited to cater for Preston City Council’s official International Women’s Day event within days of the course ending.
The second cohort was significantly more diverse. 70% of the course participants came from Preston’s most deprived areas, 60% of them spoke English as a second language and 70% of the group were born outside of the UK. Many had only arrived in Preston in the past few years. To ensure that learning about the UK’s legal and business landscape could be accurately understood, without language and cultural barriers that might prevent participants from completing the course, the programme was delivered by multi-lingual speakers. During course delivery additional sessions in social media marketing, pricing and invoicing were included at the request of participants. A local accounts firm, Rushtons Accountants, also volunteered to conduct sessions in taxation and bookkeeping.
By the end of both programmes, all members had achieved Level 2 Food Safety certification, 30% had successfully passed a home kitchen Environmental Health inspection (40% currently have inspections pending), and 70% had successfully started trading.
The first cohort of Lady Boss participants have since set up an all-women social enterprise offering catering services to corporate and social events. The enterprise has now expanded to include members of the second training cohort. The business keeps on growing, and already catered for many events in and around Preston.
Aysha’s next programme is ‘The Clean Collective’ which will take the inclusive entrepreneurship approach to the cleaning sector - a £59 billion industry employing 1.47 million people across the UK. The UK cleaning industry is also overwhelmingly female, with over half of its workforce aged over 45 years, and from a minoritised background. Sadly, wages are close to, or even below, the minimum wage, according to the Living Wage Foundation.
At the end of both programmes the successes speak for themselves. Individuals were given the training and skills they needed to establish their own businesses yet all chose to work together. They had been equipped with the skills necessary to start their own enterprises or work with their existing connections outside of the cohort but in sharing the learning experience together both the CoLab group of artists and Lady Boss caterers decided to co-operate as teams within their cohorts.
This goes to show that when given the means, people often choose to co-operate. It also shows that when it comes to developing the co-operative sector, some answers might lie in ‘new’ avenues of innovation, such as the arts, whereas some answers will be found by going back to the start.
In 2026 PCDN is planning on continuing the programmes for CoLab and Lady Boss: working with the CoLab group towards procuring a venue and continuing to support the current Lady Boss catering enterprise to grow, whilst also developing The Clean Collective. If any organisations would like to help support the delivery of these programmes, get in touch with Preston Cooperative Development Network.
Jonny Cosmo is a local creative and social entrepreneur. He has worked with local organisations in the third and creative sector for almost a decade and is now expanding this into economic development through cooperatives. Led by 5 C’s Cooperative, Cultural, Creative, Conscious, Community.
