Record sponsorship from St David’s 2 enables Artes Mundi to reach out to every school child in Wales
27 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.
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Notes for Editors
Artes Mundi is an international contemporary visual arts initiative, committed to recognising and showing some of the most exciting, emerging artists from around the world and celebrating visual culture within an international context. It highlights how artists comment on the world from very different cultural perspectives and gathers work that speaks about humanity, the human form and the human condition.
The Artes Mundi exhibition features eight artists and is presented every two years in Cardiff after an international nomination process and further global research, undertaken by two independent selectors. A separate independent panel of five judges awards the £40,000 Artes Mundi Prize to one of the exhibiting artists. The Derek Williams Trust provides funding in order that works by some of the shortlisted artists can be purchased for the national collections of Wales.
The Artes Mundi 3 Exhibition opens at the National Museum Cardiff on March 15th 2008 and continues until June 8th 2008. The Prize will be awarded in April 2008.
Artes Mundi was founded by William Wilkins CBE (Chairman) and Tessa Jackson (Artistic Director) in 2002. It was established with the support of the Welsh Assembly Government, the City of Cardiff, Arts Council of Wales, BBC Wales and Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales, all of whom remain as partners.
The St David’s Partnership
Together, as St David's Partnership, Land Securities and Capital Shopping Centres are to lead the landmark St David's 2 development, which will extend the retail offer of the St David's Centre to 1,394,500 sq ft (129,549 sq m) - making it one of the largest shopping destinations in the UK.
St David's
Prime city centre retail 39,735 sq m (427,000 sq ft) of single level shopping; 70 shops
anchored by Debenhams and complemented by Bhs, M&S and Boots; high pedestrian flow - 27,700,000 (2005).
The St David's 2 development is a £675 million investment in Cardiff city centre.
967,500 sq ft (89,891 sq m) retail-led, mixed-use development to include;
a major John Lewis department store of circa 260,000 sq ft (24,154 sq m); 9 large stores; 93 shops; 25 catering units (64,199sq ft / 5,964sq m) including cafes, restaurants and bars; 300 new homes; new public amenities and public spaces; c.3,000 car parking spaces; a state-of-the-art civic library of circa 55,000 sq ft (5,110 sq m).
The project will create c.1,000 construction jobs; 2000 permanent new jobs upon completion; establish Cardiff as one of the premier retail destinations in Europe.
The architects are Benoy, Building Design Partnership (new library) and Glenn Howells (residential). Letting agents are E J Hales, Lunson Mitchenall and Cushman & Wakefield, Healey & Baker. The construction phase of St David's 2 is due to commence in autumn 2006 with completion and opening in 2009.
The All Wales Ethnic Minority Association (AWEMA) is based in Cardiff and Swansea and works towards developing the capacity and skills of members of ethnic minority communities so that they can better identify their needs, work towards meeting them and participate more fully in society.
Fairbridge supports 13-25 year olds who are not in education, employment or training to meet the opportunities and responsibilities of society today, by offering them a long-term personal development programme that builds confidence, motivation and personal, social and life skills. Based in 15 of the most disadvantaged urban areas in the country, Fairbridge has three centres in Wales, situated in Cardiff, Swansea and Porth.
Public Art Wales is a new company formed earlier this year through the merger of CBAT The Arts & Regeneration Agency and Cywaith Cymru/Artworks Wales. As CBAT it was engaged by the St David’s 2 Partnership to develop and implement a £1.5million programme of permanent and temporary Public Art projects throughout the development. Strategy for this programme was accepted by the partners towards the end of 2006 and three major commissions, including a landmark for Hayes Place adjacent to the new Library and the John Lewis Store, have recently been advertised and are attracting worldwide interest from outstanding artists. For further information please contact Sarah Pace on sarah-pace@cbat.co.uk
For further information please contact:
Annie Bacon
Communications
Artes Mundi
E: anniebacon@mac.com
Tel: +44 (0) 7974 755 164
Nat Slow
Tel: +44 (0) 2920 555300
E: natalieslow@artesmundi.org