Design Festival recognised with partnership award
Published: 31 March 2011
THE Cardiff Design Festival and its success in building relationships with business partners has been recognised at a recent awards ceremony.
The Arts & Business Cymru CultureStep programme awarded UWIC’s Cardiff School of Art & Design – organisers of the Design Festival - with Certificates of Excellence in recognition of its partnership with Cardiff Airport and Cardiff City Centre’s Royal and Morgan Arcades.
The two partnerships were formed by the Cardiff Design Festival last year; its work with Cardiff Airport centred on an Inbound Tourism project, giving the students valuable experience while enhancing passengers’ environment. Helical Bar, owners of Cardiff’s Royal and Morgan Arcades, provided much needed exhibition space, raising the profile of its shopping area.
Olwen Moseley of UWIC’s School of Art & Design and organiser of the Design Festival said: “Working with Cardiff Airport and with Royal and Morgan Arcade has brought huge benefits to the Cardiff Design Festival. The exhibitions and events we have organised with them have helped us tell the public not only how important design is to every aspect of our lives, but also helped celebrate what a great wealth of design talent we have here in Wales. The partnerships we have formed have also given our students the opportunity to organise exhibitions and show their work in Cardiff city centre in the Arcades. The live project organised with the Airport developed their understanding that effective professional designers must be aware of stakeholder needs as well as those of their main client, and helped build their transferable skills such as team working and problem solving which are so important to their future employability.”
Cassie Houghton, Cardiff Airport added: “The partnership with the Design Festival and School of Art & Design has been a key part of both our community programme but also helped look at the creative way we can welcome passengers to Wales and create a sense of place as Wales’s national airport. We were thrilled the partnership has been recognised by Arts & Business and look forward to continuing our relationship during 2011.”
Arts & Business Cymru’s CultureStep programme invests cash into business and arts partnerships to make them stronger and more sustainable. Funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and the Arts Council of Wales, the programme is key to fostering and developing relationships, especially at a time of economic gloom.
Picture caption:
Cardiff Design Festival & Cardiff Airport: L-R: Olwen Moseley and Angie Dutton of UWIC’s School of Art & Design; Margaret James, Quality and Contracts Manager, Cardiff Airport, Cassie Houghton, Marketing & PR Manager, Cardiff Airport, Heritage Minister Alun Ffred Jones, AM.