Join our Festive Rebellion
Celebrate Small Business Saturday by backing the creatives who keep the North East brilliant
Image description: A pink graphic featuring a simple Christmas tree, with white writing: North East Cultural Freelancers. Join our festive rebellion. Small Business Saturday, 6 December.
Small Business Saturday is nearly here — landing on Saturday 6 December — and this year, we’re throwing down the gauntlet. We’re calling on you, your neighbours, your colleagues, your Mam, and anyone else who’ll listen to join our festive rebellion.
Because shopping small isn’t just a nice idea.
It’s not a warm fuzzy seasonal gesture.
It’s not even really about shopping.
Shopping small is an act of rebellion.
It’s choosing people over corporations.
Craft over convenience.
Creative courage over mass-produced sameness.
And in the North East, we’re lucky. Our artists, makers, photographers, designers, and small creative businesses are some of the most imaginative and hardworking in the country. They bring colour to our high streets, soul to our communities, and originality to our festive gifting.
So this year, we’re inviting you to push back against the boring and predictable.
To vote with your wallet.
To back our region’s brilliant creative rebels.
To join our Festive Rebellion.
What Is Our Festive Rebellion?
It’s our campaign to celebrate, spotlight, and shout about the small creative businesses that make the North East a place worth living in. We want to create a platform where creative freelancers and small businesses can post their work, tell their story, and connect with people who want to shop small, shop local, and support real humans.
Here’s how it works:
Artists and makers can post on the Saturday Showcase in the North East Cultural Freelancers Facebook group this Saturday 29 November. This is a weekly post where our community can share and promote their work.
We’ll gather your posts and create a special Small Business Saturday blog directory, making it easy for shoppers to discover and support you.
Creatives can also send us a photo of themselves + their work, plus a short quote about why shopping small matters. Email: info@culturalfreelancers.org or post and tag us on social media using the hashtag #FestiveRebellion
Everyone can share the posts far and wide — because every share helps amplify local talent.
This isn’t just a campaign. It’s a collective action. A statement.
A celebration of the people who create, imagine, and make our region special.
Why small businesses matter (and why supporting them is rebellious)
Small creative businesses are the heart of our cultural ecosystem. They’re the ones running workshops, producing handmade gifts, crafting original artworks, shooting photographs that capture real moments, designing meaningful experiences, and keeping creativity alive in a world obsessed with factory-made speed.
When you buy from a small business, you’re not funding a billionaire’s third yacht.
You’re helping someone pay rent.
You’re supporting someone’s next commission.
You’re giving someone the freedom to keep making art.
This is especially true for freelancers and creative independents, who often juggle multiple jobs, fluctuating income, and endless passion projects — all while keeping the region’s cultural scene thriving.
Shopping small is more than a purchase.
It’s creative activism.
An investment in culture.
A decision to prioritise community over convenience.
And in the run-up to Christmas, that choice can make all the difference.
How You Can Join the Festive Rebellion
If you’re a creative business:
Post on Saturday Showcase
Let us (and everyone else) see what you’re making.
Send us a photo + quote
Tell us what shopping small means for your business. A sentence or two is perfect.
Share the campaign
Help us recruit more rebels.
If you’re a shopper:
Choose handmade over mass-produced
Give gifts with stories — not barcodes.
Spread the word
Share posts from creatives you love.
Tell your friends
Word-of-mouth is still the most powerful tool in any community.
A Collective Act of Creative Defiance
This campaign isn’t just about helping individual businesses.
It’s about reinforcing the entire cultural ecology of the North East.
When we champion local creatives:
Our communities become richer, more interesting, more human
Our economy becomes more resilient and fair.
Our festive season becomes more joyful, more original, more meaningful.
So this year, we’re calling on you — loudly, proudly, rebelliously — to join us.
To stand with our artists.
To support our makers.
To uplift our freelancers.
And to help make Small Business Saturday a celebration of everything that makes the North East creative, bold, and brilliantly weird.
Let’s make this festive season a rebellion — one brilliant, handmade gift at a time.
