KATE ADIE AND SEAN RAFFERTY PRESENT BIG TELLY WITH PRESTIGIOUS CREATIVITY AWARDS


The Arts & Business 'Creativity' Awards celebrate the very best examples of partnerships between business and the arts - creative ideas executed to a standard of excellence, which demonstrate tangible benefits to business and artists alike.

32 companies across Northern Ireland and 5 talented individuals were short listed for their contribution to the arts as Arts & Business presented their 'Creativity' Awards.

The Awards were presented by Kate Adie and Sean Rafferty at Belfast Waterfront Hall on Thursday 13 January 2005 in front of an audience of 300 from the fields of Business, Arts and Government.

Arts & Business, Northern Ireland Director, Alice O'Rawe said "The very vision of Arts & Business is to help create partnerships by raising awareness of the effectiveness and impact of the arts. These results provide a timely reminder of the importance of this working relationship".

The Awards are the most important public opportunity for Arts & Business to celebrate and recognise the increasingly important creative partnerships between business and the arts. Winners were announced in the 8 categories and varied from major players in the arts world, manufacturing, utilities provider to a firm of solicitors. The wining partnerships explore a range of arts/business collaborations and were chosen by an independent panel of judges.

Arts & Business Creativity Awards 2005 - The Winners

Citations

Arts, Business & Employees:
An effective creative programme to involve employees in the arts and incorporates the arts into the workplace
Sponsored by Harrison Photography

Winner: Irwin Donaghey Stockman & Big Telly Theatre Company

Committed to developing the creativity of its workforce, Irwin Donaghey Stockman Accountants joined actors and the director of Big Telly's 'The Playboy of the Western World' to create a very different piece of theatre - 'The Shoe Show' - a sneak preview of Playboy performed solely from the knees down.

The piece performed in the shop window of Bishop's Shoe Shop in Coleraine and bemused passers-by were treated to the unexpected sight of legs, knees and ankles hurtling through the action of the play in a frantic ten minutes.The partnership gave employees the opportunity to take part in an artistic adventure which not only strengthened staff relationships but also gave them the opportunity to expand their creative thinking.

The Legal & General Arts Award:
Excellence in arts management of the business relationship

Winner: Big Telly Theatre Company

Highly Commended: Grand Opera House

Big Telly Theatre Company is Northern Ireland's longest established professional theatre company formed in 1987. Their continual commitment to pushing the creative boundaries has resulted in business partnerships that offer unique promotional opportunities and take sponsorship to the heart of the business' activities.

From working with local accountants to devise a theatre piece performed solely from the knee-down; using actors to practice cross-examination skills and employing film making techniques to encourage team work and communication amongst young designers, Big Telly's partnerships continue to surprise, stimulate and ignite the imagination of the most cynical business brain.

The Judges

  • Wendy Austin, BBC Radio Ulster (Chair)
  • Rita Duffy, Artist
  • Peter Jones, General Manager, Kuehne+Nagel (Northern Ireland)
  • Michael McCann, Acting Commercial Director, Diageo Northern Ireland
  • Jonathan Rose, Public Relations Manager, Orange PCS Ltd

The Sponsors

  • Allianz Northern Ireland
  • Blacksheep Displays
  • Department of Culture, Arts & Leisure
  • Diageo Northern Ireland
  • First Trust Bank plc
  • Harrison Photography
  • Laganside Corporation
  • Legal & General Partnership Services Limited