Allianz Business2Arts Awards 2006

Almost 400 leaders in the business and arts communities were in Dublin’s Mansion House for the presentation of the Allianz Business2Arts Awards 2006, on 31 May.

Speaking at the event, the guest of honour Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism hailed the event as “an opportunity to highlight the value of the partnership between the State and the business community in the furtherance of the arts in this country”. He elaborated on this by saying that “a strong and healthy society cannot be measured by economic indicators alone. By putting the arts at the heart of society, I believe they can help to lead us to a better place. The Allianz Business2Arts Awards are unique because they recognise that the arts deserve rewards just as we reward achievement in business and in sport.”  

Winners at the Allianz Business2Arts Awards 2006

Best Collaboration by a Small Business

Hudson Associate Architects and Graffiti Theatre Company
Hudson Associate Architects worked with Graffiti, an Educational Theatre Company on the design, renovation and refurbishment of a disused Chapel Building into a youth centre.  Hudson’s mission was to support the valuable work of Graffiti Theatre Company and to give something back to the community in appreciation and recognition of the contribution that the arts make to the quality of life.  The partnership resulted in a unique home for Graffiti comprising an auditorium, rehearsal studio, office space and ancillary facilities. The development also had the support of Cork City Council, owners of the building and the Arts Council. The new centre provides an ideal space for Graffiti to continue to develop their objective of providing high quality theatre experiences for young people.  A strong working relationship developed between Hudson and Graffiti which is reflected in the wonderful renovation of the building for its new purpose.

Hudson Associate Architects and Graffiti Theatre Company won the Award for Best Collaboration By a Small Business, represented by Paul Hudson, Jennifer O’Donnell and Emelie Fitzgibbon. Allianz Ireland is represented by Damien O’Neill 

Best Collaboration Enhancing Creativity 

Zinc Design Consultants and Dublin Fringe Festival
The Dublin Fringe Festival needed to find a way of increasing awareness and access to their festival programme. They also wanted to generate more of a street presence. In 2005, Zinc Design came on board to help the Festival achieve these goals. Working closely with the festival team, Zinc helped to create the concept of the Fringe Family, which used different family members and colours to represent strands of the Festival in their marketing collateral. The concept of the family incorporated accessibility, variety, diverse audiences and captured the imagination of the public.  Zinc designed all the festival brochures, a new festival logo and helped plan street activity using themed cones and flags to create a buzz of excitement.  The close collaboration proved immensely successful with an unprecedented 53% rise in box office revenue and a 32% increase in ticketed attendance compared to the previous year. Through their extensive work with the Fringe Festival, Zinc were both challenged and rewarded. The success of the partnership was also reflected in Zinc’s nomination for awards within their own industry sector.

The Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism with the winner of the Best Collaboration Enhancing Creativity, Tara Clarke of Zinc Design Associates, Wolfgang Hoffman, Dublin Fringe Festival, Ruth Kelleher, Zinc Design

Best Sponsorship In-Kind

Coillte Teo and Sculpture in Woodland
Sculpture in Woodland’s mission is to create greater awareness of wood as a functional and artistic medium and to provide artists with the resources and support to create and exhibit work of artistic excellence. Coillte, who operate on the principles of sustainable forest management, has facilitated Sculpture in Woodland by providing the Devil’s Glen wood in Wicklow as a location for its sculptures since 1995.  This joint venture has succeeded in creating a unique and stunning free outdoor gallery for the public, with over 20 dramatic sculptures from international artists located throughout the forest. The sculptures have encouraged greater use of the forest by local communities and visitors. In addition to providing a home for the sculptures, Coillte also provide office space and facilities for the Sculpture in Woodland organisation as well as support at Board level. In addition, the staff of Coillte assist in helping to install and maintain the artworks at the Devil’s Glen wood.

Jenny Sherwin, Gerry Egan, Ciara King, Kevin Collins, Damien O’Neill, Clodagh Duffy, (front) Tom Lyng, Donal Magner, John O’Sullivan, Martin Sheridan and Derek Verso celebrate Coillte Teo and Sculpture in Woodland (Ireland) ltd’s Award for Best Sponsorship In Kind

Best Collaboration in the Community 

Dublin Docklands Development Authority for Honk!
As part of their extensive Education Programme, the Dublin Docklands Development Authority first introduced free drama classes to 2 schools in their area in 2003. By the academic year 2004/5 the drama classes had extended to 16 junior and primary schools. The aim of the drama programme is to help integrate the Docklands schools, to tackle the issues of bullying and racism and especially to promote self-confidence and self esteem amongst the children. In order to showcase the skills and talents of the children involved, a special performance of the musical HONK! (The Ugly Duckling) was staged in The Helix Theatre. The show was professionally produced, directed, choreographed and costumed and featured 344 children from 16 schools in the Docklands area. The 75-minute musical was performed to an audience of over 2,400 people to great acclaim.

Gerry Kelly of Dublin Docklands Development Authority, winner of the Best Collaboration in the Community. In the background are the Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, Mette Boye Hansen and Donal Curtin of Dublin Docklands Development Authority

Best Collaboration Enhancing Corporate Identity

Glen Dimplex and Irish Writers Centre
In March 2006 Glen Dimplex and the Irish Writers Centre announced The Glen Dimplex New Writers Awards. The awards are aimed exclusively at emerging writers and offer unprecedented support and exposure for new writers.  There is a total prize fund of €45,000 and awards will be made to the best first book published by an author within 5 categories – covering, fiction, poetry, children’s literature, non-fiction and Irish language. Each category winner will receive a prize of €5,000. The Glen Dimplex New Writer of the Year, chosen from the category winners will receive a further €20,000.  In addition to sponsoring the prize fund, Glen Dimplex have gone a step further by making a significant financial contribution to the administration, publicity and awards ceremony event. The awards have helped to raise the profile of the Irish Writers Centre as a development agency for writers and are another fine example of the consistent support offered to the arts by Glen Dimplex

Winner of the Best Collaboration Enhancing Corporate Identity, John Mellon of Irish Writer’s Centre, Minister for Arts, Sport & Tourism, Sean O’Driscoll, Glen Dimplex, Cathal McCabe and Anne-Marie Wolohan of the Irish Writer’s Centre

 

Best Ongoing Collaboration

Anglo Irish Bank and The Abbey Theatre
Anglo Irish Bank have sponsored the ‘Writer in Association’ in The Abbey Theatre for the past 19 years. The sponsorship enables The Abbey to commission a new play every year from the current writer in association, which is then produced on The Abbey or Peacock stage.  The Abbey was founded by writers for writers and this award recognises the centrality of the playwright in the creative process of play making at the theatre.  Former recipients include leading Irish playwrights such as Tom Murphy, Marina Carr and Conor McPherson.   This long running sponsorship by Anglo Irish Bank has provided consistent support for The Abbey and has made a significant contribution to Irish theatre and society through its creation of new writing.

Bryan McMahon, David Drumm, Fiach MacConghail and Damien O’Neill of Allianz Ireland presenting the award for Best Ongoing Collaboration to Anglo Irish Bank and The Abbey Theatre

Judges Special Recognition Award 

Diageo Ireland for the Guinness Jazz Festival
The Guinness Jazz Festival has become a world renowned event and in 2005 there were over 1,000 musicians from 32 countries performing jazz and jazz inspired music at over 85 venues in the city. Last year it attracted over 40,000 people to Cork for the October Bank Holiday weekend and is now the biggest musical event in Cork’s cultural calendar. The judges were particularly impressed with the length and depth of Diageo’s support of the Jazz Festival Committee. Diageo’s brand Guinness is synonymous with the Jazz Festival and the partnership has grown significantly over the years with the company playing a major role helping to ‘reinvent’ the Festival in the mid-1990s. Today Diageo’s team works closely with the Festival Committee on the strategic and artistic planning for the festival. This is particularly beneficial in terms of tapping into Diageo’s Global network and contacts with the worlds’ top jazz agents. Of course, the company makes a significant financial investment in the festival of a scale more typically associated with major sports sponsorships. Diageo also gives the festival the full support of their highly skilled marketing team and support agencies to assist in areas such as advertising, PR and venue management.

The judges also commended Diageo for the cultural impact of the Guinness Jazz Festival which has helped to encourage the growth of several fringe festivals in the surrounding areas of Cork including the Kinsale Jazz Festival, also sponsored by Guinness. In addition, the Guinness Jazz Festival played an important part of the celebrations for Cork 2005 as the European Capital of Culture by presenting its most extensive jazz festival programme to date.

Winner of the Judges Special Recognition Award, Diageo Ireland, represented by Michael Whelan

Dublin Airport Authority €4,000 Special Arts Award

Improvised Music Company
In 2005 the Improvised Music Company (IMC) enlisted the support of seven of Dublin’s leading architectural practises to help sponsor the ECM:05 jazz music series. The Jazz Architects, as they became known, are Burke Kennedy Doyle, KMD Architecture, Pierce & Associates, Murray O’Laoire Architects, Mitchell & Associates, Ashlin Coleman Architects and Duffy Mitchell O’Donoghue Architects. This proved to be a very successful approach for IMC which allowed them to veer away from the traditional approach of one title sponsor and instead pool the resources of a number of companies under a shared identity. IMC’s relationship with the Dublin architectural community had existed socially for years with many architects attending their events and some even taking part as musicians themselves. Following some initial support from architectural firms for IMC’s 2003 piano concert series, they decided to enlist the support of a wider group of firms for the ECM:05 jazz series. The support of the Jazz Architects, along with other cultural and media support, helped to give Dublin audiences access to an international concert programme of the highest calibre.  

IMC is commended by the judges for creating an imaginative sponsorship programme of collective support for jazz events in Ireland. As part of the collaboration, IMC ensured that each of the seven Jazz Architects received appropriate branding and an opportunity to host a specific concert during the year long series, which allowed the firms to involve staff and clients in the music series. To conclude, Goethe coined the phrase that “Architecture is frozen music” and judging from the relationship developed by IMC with the Jazz Architects there is plenty of evidence in Ireland to support the philosopher’s assertion.

The Jazz Architects and Improvised Music Company won the Dublin Airport Authority €4,000 Arts Award, and were represented by Albert Noonan, Larry Pierce, Barney Whelan, Gerry Godley, Peter D’Arcy, Sean O’Laoire, (front row) Mark Duffy, Allen Smith, Jackie Reynolds, John Mitchell

The Judges
We would like to thank our judges for their commitment and enthusiasm which contributed greatly to the success of the 2006 judging process. The judging panel comprised of:

Michael Carr Human Resources Director, Allianz Ireland

Denis Crowley Deputy Managing Director, FEXCO Group

Sarah Dempsey Head of Sponsorship & Corporate Responsibility, Ulster Bank Group

Sarah Glennie Director, Model Arts Centre, Sligo

Madeleine Keane Literary Editor, The Sunday Independent

Martin Mackin Director, Q4 Public Relations

Mark Mulqueen Director, Irish Film Institute; Boardmember, Culture Ireland

Previous Arts Sponsor of the Year Award Winners