Record sponsorship from St David’s 2
28 June, 2007
Artes Mundi, the bi-annual international visual arts initiative has announced today that the St David’s 2 development, a £675 million retail-led development that will transform Cardiff city centre, is to be a major sponsor of Artes Mundi 3. This significant sponsorship - at £100,000 - is the largest single commercial investment yet made into Artes Mundi and will fund Artes Mundi 3’s new series of major education and visitor programmes designed to reach out to every school child in Wales as well as to communities and the general public. In addition, the St David’s 2 sponsorship includes the awarding of the £40,000 Artes Mundi Prize, given in April 2008 to one of the eight international artists selected for the Artes Mundi Exhibition.
More than 3,000 children visited the Artes Mundi 2 exhibition in 2006 at the National Museum Cardiff, with all the available workshops being over-subscribed. The new Artes Mundi 3 education programme is designed to enable more children to experience and become involved in the visual arts. The programme will include a free CD-ROM based bi-lingual education pack for every primary, secondary and special needs school in Wales – nearly 2,000 of them. This will enable teachers to prepare for visits and to use computers and projection to bring aspects of the Artes Mundi exhibition “virtually” into the classroom, when actual visits are not possible. Schools visiting the exhibition from outside Wales will also be able to apply for the pack in advance.
The education programme is a key element in Artes Mundi 3 and builds on the success of previous projects set up around Artes Mundi 2 in 2005 and 2006. An advisory board, made up of students from the University of Wales Institute, Cardiff’s Faculty of Art & Design will help to shape aspects of the new, extended programme which will also include a large scale project for city centre users and creative projects with the All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (AWEMA) and with Fairbridge.
“The sponsorship of projects that will further engage diverse communities, the public and young people is an exciting development for us” says Tessa Jackson, Artistic Director of Artes Mundi. “We have seen enormous interest in the Artes Mundi programme from schools throughout Wales. This sponsorship from St David’s 2 will enable us to reach out to all those schools and give every child in Wales the opportunity to experience the exhibition and become involved.”
This major sponsorship from St David’s 2 complements the permanent and temporary public art works that it has commissioned through Public Art Wales, to be implemented throughout the period of construction.
The Chairman of Artes Mundi, William Wilkins, said “The St David’s 2 retail and leisure development in Cardiff is going to set a new pace and quality of experience for shopping in the city centre. Their sponsorship of Public Art Wales and now of Artes Mundi reveals that they are committed to developing Cardiff and Wales’ cultural strengths and attractions too.”
Lester Hampson, Development Director for the St David’s Partnership, commented: “High quality Public Art is firmly at the heart of our vision for the St David’s 2 project. It will enhance the fantastic new public spaces we are providing as part of the development and give them an international quality. This sponsorship of Artes Mundi is further proof of our commitment to the inclusion of art within the development, but also to the promotion of art and making the visual arts more accessible to the people of Wales.“
Schools can register early to receive their free copy of the Artes Mundi 3 CD-ROM Education Pack by sending an email to schools@artesmundi.org. The packs will be available from March 2008.