MEA Combines Art & Technology To Grow Innovation

MEA fosters creativity in the workplace with Artists in Residence programme

Creative tech company MEA today announced the continuation of its successful Artist in Residency programme, creating an exciting annual opportunity for artists in the Waikato. Openings for this year’s programme will begin in September, with artists and creative technologists welcome to proactively approach MEA. This unique initiative fosters creativity and innovation in the workplace, while providing the freedom for artists to explore a variety of media in a collaborative workspace.

MEA Chief Executive Gabriel Engel says, “Expanding our core team’s connections through engagement with people outside of their day to day technical, marketing or management disciplines improves product development outcomes and overall workplace satisfaction. After the initial rigorous selection process and agreement on outcomes we are not prescriptive in how our resident artists interact with our team: we simply encourage organic sharing and interaction.”

Engel continues, “Physical art is like walking in nature or going to the beach. Like the positive effects of engagement with the ever changing and sometimes conflicting natural environment; we believe interacting with physical art works and digital exploration increase general happiness by providing just a little more than expected every turn. Our aim for bringing artists into our team is improved quality and depth of work, innovation, productivity and everyone’s enjoyment of being at work.”

Marnie White, Emily Brook-Watts, Annelisa Tiddy and Conner Farrant were each selected for residencies. Tiddy and Farrant – both University of Waikato students – worked together on iterative visual pattern generating software application. White and Brook-Watts each produced a collection of physical paintings. In addition to their individual artworks, White and Brook-Watts finished the residency with a large-scale mural inside the MEA office.

Emily Brooks-Watts says the programme has changed her focus to Media & Creative Technologies at Waikato University and adds, “Hamilton is a great place to nurture and foster creativity – there are lots of opportunities here that are harder to find in a bigger city.”

Brooks-Watt, Farrant and Tiddy are now all continuing with their studies while White has completed her Bachelor of Media Arts, Visual Art and is working towards her first solo exhibition after winning the Waikato Museum Artspost Award.

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