First art design degree for Bay of Plenty

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Bay of Plenty Polytechnic: First art design degree for Bay of Plenty

The cream of the Bay of Plenty’s creative community came together last night to celebrate one of the most exciting advances in creative collaboration in decades - the launch of Bay of Plenty Polytechnic’s Bachelor of Creative Industries.

Developed in response to industry need the degree is not only the Polytechnic’s first but is also the first art design degree available in the whole of the Bay of Plenty. Despite being only six weeks young the degree programme is already receiving positive affirmations from students and industry.

Dr Helen Anderson, Polytechnic Academic Director, said the new degree was the culmination of a fine balancing act of providing an equal mix of artistic creativity on one side and industry capability on the other.

“The Bachelor of Creative Industries has two distinct parts,” said Dr Anderson. “The first is the creative side. It is extraordinarily important that we look after our creative people and make it possible for them to do what they do best; they represent, they interpret, they show us a lot of who and what we are and indeed where we are going as a nation – and that’s an incredibly important thing.

“Then there is industry. What we have to do as a progressive tertiary provider is to foster our students creativity and to make it possible for these students to be what industry needs – to be able to work together, to be able to communicate and collaborate and to provide amazing possibilities across all the industries represented here tonight.”

The new degree blends fashion, graphic design and art in an interdisciplinary setting allowing students to learn the diverse range of skills required by modern creative industries. Part of that process is also providing the students with unique learning tools and a step away from a more traditional classroom setting, instead providing a series of connected learning spaces supporting creativity and collaboration.

Gill Brocas, Head of School Design and Humanities, said the degree launch was a big moment for the Polytechnic Design team, thanking staff, guests and students.

“Thank you to the students who have enrolled with us - if you hadn’t we certainly wouldn’t be standing here today,” said Ms Brocas. “We’re all really excited to see what happens to you all over the next three years. We’re expecting great things from our hugely talented and hard-working student body.”

The Bachelor of Creative Industries opened its doors to 60 students in February and a second intake in July will see another 40 students joining the creative hub.

Ends.

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