Future of creative industries on display at Unitec’s annual Grad Show opening to the public tonight
A new generation of product designers, jewellers, painters, photographers, architects, landscape architects, business
and information technology leaders, and communicators are getting the chance this week to show how they could change the
future face of their professions.
Hundreds of students from Unitec Institute of Technology’s Faculty of Creative Industries and Business will be
exhibiting their work, participating in industry events and networking with potential employers throughout the week-long
2010 Unitec Grad Show from 23 to 27 November which opens tonight.
The free event is open to the public from tonight until Saturday 27 November and features innovative new products,
stunning contemporary jewellery, photography, ceramics, traditional and contemporary Maori weaving, cutting-edge
multi-media, world-class dance and acting performances, and radical interior design and futuristic paintings amongst
others.
The Unitec Grad Show has traditionally been a collaboration between the creative arts departments of architecture,
landscape architecture, and design and visual arts.
For the first time ever, the 2010 Unitec Grad Show will involve all departments under Unitec’s Faculty of Creative
Industries and Business which was created at the beginning of 2009. The Department of Management and Marketing,
Department of Communication Studies, Department of Computing and the Department of Accounting and Finance will also be
taking part.
The Faculty of Creative Industries and Business is unique in New Zealand as Unitec is the first tertiary institute to
link business, management and marketing programmes with creative programmes such as performing and screen arts, design
and visual arts, architecture and landscape architecture, and communication studies.
Executive Dean for the Faculty of Creative Industries and Business, Associate Professor Leon Fourie says,
“Traditionally, business studies have been kept separate from creative studies in tertiary institutions.”
“However it’s evident that real world learning often requires collaboration between disciplines to respond and even
pro-actively lead changing labour market requirements. The newly established Certificate in Communication and Media Arts
is an excellent example of where Performing and Screen Arts and Communication Studies work together innovatively in
delivering a market-relevant and popular qualification,” he says.
“It similarly also enriches the skill set of our graduates through making curriculums more flexible so that students can
combine disciplines. This means those wanting to study the creative arts and learn business skills (or vice versa) can do so by studying at Unitec.”
The Unitec Grad Show is open to the public to view and some is for sale from 5.30pm on Wednesday 24 November at Unitec’s
historic Building 1.
ENDS