Hague, head of corporate account development at Excel London, revealed ISES has partnered with UK Trade & Investment (UKTI) to create a recognised trade business association, set to be accredited in the next six months.
As part of the move, she explained that members would be able to take advantage of a grant programme, which will be owned by ISES, giving creative event businesses access to up to £3,000 to join UKTI in international trade show platforms.
ISES will also be launching a new initiative with Creative Industry Finance, owned by the Arts Council, whereby the event industry and ISES members can put themselves forward for financial opportunities, on a loan basis, for up to £25,000. The scheme is currently being piloted in Yorkshire and London.
She also revealed ISES is looking to widen its reach within the creative sector through its monthly ISES Talks educational events by bringing content in from the art, fashion and design sectors.
The new 2013/14 president, who this month has taken over the position from outgoing president Philip Atkins, founder and managing director of Off To Work, said in the last year ISES has owned the creative industry.
"Phillip did a great job of cementing creative as a word associated with ISES, and I do believe we are now seen as the flag carriers of the creative event industry," she explained.
"What I need to do with the board now is demonstrate why that is the case."
Hague added that the association is looking at ways of quantifying how competitive the UK creative event sector is internationally.
She said: "Post Olympics, it was something that was one of our biggest potential exports, and we really delivered on a global scale. But since then, although we have talked about it a lot, we haven’t really measured it. So I think we want to look at how we can add some credibility to that message."
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