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Boost the Power of Creativity
—China-UK Creative Entrepreneur Network Launch@2008 Guangzhou Design Week
- Are you both creative and business savvy?
- Can you see the business potential of new ideas in arts, media and design?
- Are you passionate about the development of local creative industry?
Join the ‘China-UK Creative Entrepreneur Network’ now!
Intro
Creative Industry has become a new economic driver in 21st century. As well as their dreams and passion, successful creative talents also embrace an understanding of creativity and entrepreneurship. The UK was among the first to identify the potential and look to nurture creative talents and develop the industry. To share the UK experience and to support local creative industry, the British Council has invited six successful creative entrepreneurs from the UK and China to share their experience and business models at the Third Guangzhou International Design Week on 1 December 2008.
At the same time, the British Council is proud to launch the ‘China-UK Creative Entrepreneur Network’ as an interactive platform for creative talents to communicate and demonstrate their capability, as well as kicking off the 2009 Young Creative Entrepreneur Awards in music, design, performing arts, visual arts and interactive media at this first network meeting. It will be the place to broaden your business opportunities, meet your next mentor, client, employer or partner. Let’s boost the power of creativity together.
The British Council requests the pleasure of you to attend the China-UK Network launch gathering.
Time: 13:30 – 17:00, Monday, 1 December 2008
Venue: Haizhu Room, Guangzhou Jinhan Exhibition Centre, China
Programme Rundown:
13:30-13:45 Launch speech by Jim Hollington~
13:45-15:45 Speeches by China & UK speakers
15:45-16:45 Interactive Discussions
16:45-17:00 Networking
China & UK Speakers:
- Stephen Budd (Music, UK)
- Russell Pinch (Design, UK)
- Freeman Lau (Design, Hong Kong)
- Heather Uprichard (Theatre, UK)
- Nancy Chen (Design, Taipei)
- Wang Yudong (Creative Industry, China)
- Marina Guo (Facilitator, China)
China & UK Speakers Bio:
1. Stephen Budd (Music, UK)
Stephen originally started as a roadie and then went into artist management. In 1988 he founded Stephen Budd Management representing record producers and songwriters whose roster includes Rick Nowels, Tore Johansson, Mark Saunders, Stephen Hague, Arthur Baker, Mike Hedges, producing recent hits from famous musicians like Dido, Franz Ferdinand, Nelly Furtado, Santana, U2 and many others.
In 2001 he co-founded the Channelfly Group which includes the Barfly Clubs, The Fly Magazine and Supervision artist management with Paul Craig and became the director, managing acts including Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and The Cribs. He also created the successful ‘Passport: Back To The Bars’ project, featuring major artists playing in the Barfly Clubs for charity and is a co-exec producer along with Damon Albarn of the Africa Express project, promoting African music to western artists through travel to Africa and concerts in the UK. Stephen is a founder / council member of the Music Managers Forum.
For more information please go to these websites:
http://www.channelfly.com
http://www.Barflyclubs.com
http://www.thefly.co.uk
http://www.musicpassport.org
http://www.africaexpress.co.uk/
2. Russell Pinch (Design, UK)
Russell is the winner of our UK Young Design Entrepreneur this year. As a trained furniture designer Russell's first post was as Terence Conran's Design assistant. In 1997 Russell left the safety of employment and co-founded design agency The Nest employing 45 people, servicing global clients from BA to Selfridges, Rip-curl and WhSmiths. After the sale of the business in 2004, Russell launched PINCH, a furniture design and strategy company. As well as designing for leading furniture retailers, PINCH also designs and manufactures its own range, selling both nationally and internationally. Russell's passion is to work with the strengths of skills available locally to produce quality, responsibly made furniture. PINCH has quadrupled its turnover in 4 years and won a number of design awards including V&A / Homes & Gardens Design Classic of the year 2008. (www.pinchdesign.com)
3. Heather Uprichard (Theatre, UK)
Heather Uprichard is a founding member of the shunt collective (www.shunt.co.uk). This collective of 10 artists came together in 1998 and started to produce their own shows and events from a small railway arch in London’s East End, taking responsibility for all aspects of fundraising and production upon themselves. Over the past 10 years the scale of the work, both artistically and on a business level has grown beyond the imagination of the original founders. The company now operates out of a venue of 80,000 square feet under London Bridge Station, has seven permanent administrative staff and between 30 and 40 employees at any one time, in addition to commissioning work from a wide variety of international artists at the shunt lounge. Heather holds a First-class degree in Modern Drama Studies from Brunel University and a PGDip and M.A. in Advanced Theatre Practice from the Central School of Speech and Drama.
4. Freeman Lau (Design, Hong Kong)
Freeman Lau, born in 1958 in Hong Kong, graduated from the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He has won over 300 awards in overseas and local art and design competitions since 1984. He became the partner of Kan & Lau Design Consultants in 1996. In 2004, Freeman has achieved a milestone by designing the Watsons Water Bottle, which had won the international “Bottledwaterworld Design Awards”. It also has great contribution to the local culture as creative talents from different sectors were invited to design iconic labels for the bottle. His design for Watsons Water Bottle had won the Outstanding Greater China Design Awards presented by the Hong Kong Communication and Art Centre in 2006. His contribution to design is affirmed by receiving the Lifelong Design and Art Achievement Award in the 3rd (jiajun) International Exhibition of Design and Art in China in 2008.
Currently, Freeman is the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Hong Kong Design Centre, the Secretary General of the Hong Kong Federation of Design Associations and the Member of Design Management Institute Advisory Council. Freeman’s contribution in enhancing the identity of Hong Kong design and in promoting design education is recognized by the Hong Kong government and he was awarded the Bronze Bauhinia Star in 2006. Since 2007, Freeman has become the director of Beijing Creative Centre and the Board Member of the International Creative Industries Alliance Beijing. It is expected that his vision and experience will be valuable to the development of China’s Creative Industries.
5. Nancy Chen (Design, Taipei)
Nancy is the Creative Director of ESPstyle. Nancy founded ESPstyle in 2004, a boutique web design agency in Taipei. ESPstyle offers various types of design consultation to a diverse range of corporate clients. Services include graphic design, RIA design, branding, internet marketing, and web media buying. With its unique style and functional approach to web design, ESPstyle has built an innovative reputation with many industry insiders. In 2008, Nancy co-founded and developed MakeIT, an internet-based design and product SNS portal. Consolidating cross-field resources from traditional textile industries with internet technology, the platform services creative individuals with desires to create, sell, and market their own products with original design. The beta was successfully launched in Taiwan in July 2008.
6. Wang Yudong (Creative Industry, China)
Wang Yudong is the Vice Director of Beijing Creative Centre, who has been working in museum events for years and organized more than 50 large exhibitions ranging from ancient arts, modern arts, new media arts, etc. Beijing Creative Centre was founded in 2006, aiming at enhancing international communication and cooperation in creative industry, promoting the development of Beijing creative industry. It focuses on various fields of creative industry, especially in new media arts, comic and web games, contemporary visual arts, design and brand management.
In 2007, Beijing Creative Centre co-founded the International Creative Industries Alliance Beijing (ICIA) with many other creative organizations, whose aim is to integrate resources, enhance the research and communication in the creative industries, and further facilitate the in-depth collaboration between Beijing and the international creative communities.
7. Marina Guo (Facilitator, China)
Marina Guo, PhD in Economics & Master of Arts is the Director of Int’l Affairs of Research Centre for Creative Industries, Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, and the journalist and editor of Creative Industries Journal. Followed with doctorial Advisor Mr. Li Wuwei, China leading researcher in Creative Industries, Marina Guo is perusing multi-challenges as a creative entrepreneur, a researcher and a creative facilitator.
Marina Guo is co-founder and director of Shanghai Sun spirit Cultural Development Co., Ltd, which is a leading organization in cultural communication and arts education for children and young people. Being the practioner of international cultural exchanges, Marina Guo has initiated several groundbreaking pilot projects in performing arts and visual arts between China and Europe. As General Manager of Shanghai Yorkie Investment Co.,Ltd., Marina Guo offers consulting services in enterprise management, project development and financing strategy.
Background Information:
About the China-UK Creative Entrepreneur Network
The China-UK Creative Entrepreneur Network will be launched by the British Council on 1st December 2008. It assembles Chinese creative entrepreneurs and potential creative entrepreneurs to set up an interactive information and resource network for the creative industries in China. The platform will host a mixture of networking events, inspirational talks and professional development workshops.
The network members are made up of young entrepreneurs, established creative organisations, fast-growing business enterprises, students and freelancers. Their disciplines range from advertising, architecture, art and antiques markets, crafts, design, designer fashion, film and video, interactive leisure software, music, performing arts, publishing, software and computer services, and television and radio.
Registered members will receive regular e-newsletters about the International Young Creative Entrepreneur awards, insights into the China & UK creative industries and the latest information reflecting the international scenes. They will also have the chance to download learning resources and watch video clips of inspiring speeches recommended by leading creative entrepreneurs from the UK and other countries, enter the International Young Creative Entrepreneur awards, and attend networking events and professional development workshops or business bidding programs organized by the British Council and our partners.
The China-UK creative entrepreneur network will be the place for you to broaden your business opportunities and to meet your next mentor, client, employer or partner.
Visit www.britishcouncil.org.cn/ce for more information. (Officially launched from 1 December 2008)
What is a creative entrepreneur?
- Creative entrepreneurs provide the link between artists (creative talent) and the market (creative consumers)
- An entrepreneur is not a manager and a creative entrepreneur is not necessarily an artist
- Somebody working in the creative sector, who is able to demonstrate business success in the classic terms of business growth (profit, market share, employees) and/or in terms of their reputation (quality and aesthetic) amongst their peers
- Somebody working in the creative sector who has developed a successful (in terms of impact and reach) social or not-for-profit enterprise in the sector
- Somebody working in the creative sector who has shown leadership in the industry by championing its development in country
- Somebody working in the creative sector who has developed initiatives (exhibitions, trade fairs, festivals etc) that develop and grow the market
About IYCE
The International Young Creative Entrepreneur Award is launched by the British Council in design, publication, music, visual arts, performing arts, movie, new media and fashion design area. This award is unique for its recognition of the central role of young creative entrepreneurs in the development of a competitive and sustainable creative economy. It is essential for the UK to develop a culture of engagement and collaboration with these young international creative entrepreneurs at this vital stage in their professional development.
For more information of the winners of the award, please visit: www.creativeconomy.org.uk
Contacts:
Susan Liu
Tel: +86 20 85103068
Email: susan.liu@britishcouncil.org.cn
Grace Zhang
Tel: +8620 85103067
Email: wenlei.zhang@britishcouncil.org.cn
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