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Winners of This Years Arts & Business (A&B) Cymru Awards Confirmed

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The Arts & Business (A&B) Cymru Awards marked its 25th anniversary at a sparkling ceremony at Wales Millennium Centre on 25 May.  The best in business/arts partnerships were awarded trophies specially commissioned from Caernarfon based artist, Ann Catrin Evans.

Acting stars Di Botcher, Hannah Daniel, Mark Lewis Jones, Richard Mylan, Suzanne Packer and Will Thomas presented the awards to the winners, along with soprano Rebecca Evans, former Olympic athlete Colin Jackson, designer and conservationist Anna Ryder Richardson, and the Welsh Government’s Culture Minister Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas, AM.

For a quarter of a century, the Awards have encouraged, acknowledged and celebrated exemplary partnerships between the private sector and the arts and the categories continue to reflect the broad spectrum of work undertaken by A&B Cymru across the country.

Winners at this year’s prestigious ceremony included a social housing provider, an umbrella group of small businesses in Aberystwyth and a university school of medicine, along with some of Wales’ leading companies. Each had clearly defined objectives for

This year’s winners were:

Arts, Business & Brand Identity

  • Glamorgan Brewing Company for its partnership with Wales Millennium Centre focussing on the brand new musical, Tiger Bay  

Arts, Business & the Community

  • Charter Housing for its partnership with Ffilm Cymru Wales on a new entrant training programme, Foot in the Door

Arts, Business & Young People

  • Valero for its sponsorship of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s Young Actors Studio in Pembrokeshire

Arts & Small Business

  • Advancing Aberystwyth Ar y Blaen for its partnership with Cwmni Theatr Arad Goch to produce a new arts festival in the town

Arts, Business & Health

  • Cardiff University School of Medicine for its partnership with Hijinx that provides student doctors with role-play training delivered by learning disabled actors

Arts, Business & the Environment

  • Cardiff Harbour Authority & Port of Milford Haven for sponsoring Theatr na nÓg to create a play that underlined an important water safety message

Arts, Business & Employees

  • Admiral Group for its partnership with Cardiff’s Chapter Arts Centre that delivers a range of staff benefits

Grant Stephens Family Law Adviser Award:

  • Joanne Taylor, MHA Broomfield Alexander for her contribution to the board of Disability Arts Cymru

Admiral Business of the Year:

  • Cardiff University School of Medicine for its partnership with Hijinx that gives student doctors focussed role-play training in treating learning disabled patients

Hodge Arts Award:

The Aloud Charity for its imaginative partnerships with Care Forum Wales, the Hodge Foundation and Principality Building Society that ensure the sustainability of the chartity’s work across Wales

The Robert Maskrey Award for Arts Philanthropy was given to Philip Carne, MBE for his generous personal support of many young Welsh performers and organisations including the London Young Welsh Singer Competition, Music Theatre Wales, Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama, Sherman Theatre and Welsh Singers Showcase.

The award winners were chosen by an independent panel of judges who have expertise in practical art forms, sponsorship and the aims of the private sector.  They were: Ken Grayson, CEO of Anglesey based Peninsula Home Improvements; Karen Hodge, Trustee of the Hodge Foundation; Karen MacKinnon, Director and Curator of Artes Mundi; Joanna Rees, partner at Blake Morgan LLP; Jeremy Salisbury, Owner and Director of Salisburys Chartered Accountants, St Asaph; Grant Stephens, Owner and Director of Cardiff based Grant Stephens Family Law and Stephen Thornton, Public Affairs Manager at Valero Pembroke Refinery.

A&B Cymru’s Chief Executive, Rachel Jones said:

“Marking the 25th Anniversary of these awards is a real milestone and the quality of entries we received this year was particularly exciting and inspirational.

A&B Cymru believes passionately in the arts’ unique capacity to unite communities and improve lives. We have witnessed the positive impact that partnerships between arts organisations and businesses can have, not only for each other but the communities in which they operate and the wider Welsh economy. It is an honour to celebrate so many excellent companies and arts organisations working together across Wales in innovative, and often humbling, ways.

I’d like to say a heartfelt thank you to the sponsors and partners for their continued support of our work and these awards. We simply couldn’t do it without your vision and commitment.”

The Awards’ principal sponsor was global energy company Valero, supporting the ceremony for the 9th year. Refinery Public Affairs Manager, Stephen Thornton, said:

“It is once again a great pleasure for Valero to return as principal sponsor in this 25th year of the Arts & Business Cymru Awards. Pembroke Refinery has been proud to work in partnership with Arts & Business Cymru for nine years, and each year this incredible ceremony provides a further demonstration of the power of creativity and community that comes as a result of the arts world and the private sector working together. Wales is incredibly fortunate to have an organisation like Arts & Business Cymru to draw all these efforts together, and this year’s awards yet again show the wealth of benefits that can be enjoyed when businesses put the arts at the heart of what they do.”

The A&B Cymru Awards also benefits from staunch in-kind support from a range of Wales based businesses, including Cardiff Airport, Carrick Creative, Celtic Spirit Company, The Darkley Trust, FlightLink Wales, Flower Lodge, Freshwater, Glamorgan Brewing Company, Intercity Removals, Llanllyr Source, Mari Thomas Jewellery, Park Plaza Cardiff, Spindogs and Sunmagic. The Awards’ media partner is Orchard.

 

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Over the past 6 years, Rachel has been working specifically within the digital marketing space and has worked with some of the country’s top brands. During this time, Rachel was a key attribute to the success of our sister product, Recruitment Buzz, which has firmly established itself as one of the leading publications within the Recruitment sector. Drawing on her knowledge and experience, Rachel has developed a genuine understanding of how content can engage and compel an audience.

Having a passion for travel and culture, Rachel left her hometown of Cardiff to pursue studies and travel and after several years away, Rachel returned to Cardiff and firmly established herself within the development of Business News Wales. Rachel is now responsible for every aspect of web management, marketing and overall production of the Business News Wales brand.

Having learnt some invaluable skills within the marketing industry, Rachel is often called upon for her skills and knowledge of WordPress, HTML, email marketing software, Photoshop design and social media tools.
 

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