Celebrating the power of connectivity

Creative Cardiff celebrated its 10th anniversary this week with an event highlighting the power of connectivity, as the network’s manager Carys Bradley-Roberts told Jenny White

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REATIVE Cardiff marked its 10th anniversary on Thursday with an event at the Wales Millennium Centre celebrating the key achievements of the past decade.

A network for creative professionals, it aims to foster connectivity, collaboration and inclusion across the Cardiff region.

Besides celebrating with founding partners and members of its community, Creative Cardiff has also launched a survey to get feedback from its community on what they need in the future.

Creative Cardiff's manager Carys Bradley-Roberts says: “We were founded by two professors at Cardiff University School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Professor Ian Hargreaves and Professor Justin Lewis, who did some research into the creative sector in Cardiff and realised that it was on a big growth trajectory, and there are lots of really exciting things happening, but that the sectors within the industry were quite siloed - they weren’t really speaking to one another.

“We know that through collaboration, you get new ideas and innovation, so they suggested that Cardiff could benefit from a creative network to bring all of those sectors together.”

Coming from this research and education foundation, the network has been able to not only support the industry but also work with policymakers.

With this in mind, Professor Sara Pepper, co-director of the Creative Economy Unit at Cardiff University, came on board to help bring the network to life.

It was established with support not only from Cardiff University, but also from BBC Cymru Wales, the Wales Millennium Centre, and Cardiff council.