Jay Hunt, Channel 4′;s recently-appointed chief creative officer, has unveiled plans to diversify the broadcaster’;s independent supplier base.

Promising a more “accessible and inclusive” commissioning culture, she will take personal responsibility for the strategy by dedicating one day a month to meeting new or regional indies. Her commissioning team will also be expected to expand their indie supplier base.

Explaining her rationale, Hunt said: “Our relationship with the indie community is essential to us. This plan means the commissioning team and I will be meeting a wider group of companies to get more diversity into our programming.”

The main beneficiaries of the new strategy will be regional indies, with Hunt planning to hold around six meetings a year outside London. In addition, C4 creative diversity director Stuart Cosgrove will work with companies to offer “dedicated strategic and creative development support”.

According to C4, producers with strong ideas that need further development or initial seed-funding will be attached to a media project manager from the creative diversity team. Companies that manage to develop ideas to a sufficiently high level will then be connected to a commissioning editor, with a view to the project being developed or commissioned.