Louise Hartrey MCIPR, Senior Student Communications Officer at Cardiff University, attended the first Creative Cardiff Access All Areas event at Golley Slater. Here are her reflections.
The Access All Areas event was a wonderful way to start the day (despite the sudden rain shower), with the chance to chat with a great mix of creative people from across Cardiff - from freelancers to those working in public sector organisations.
After we’d had the opportunity to make new creative connections over a croissant and a coffee, we took our seats in the Golleys boardroom (in the shadow of the majorly Insta-friendly Golleys teapot wall).
After an introduction from Sara Pepper, Director of Creative Economy at Creative Cardiff, the team from Golleys (who were announced as new Creative Cardiff partners) gave us an insight into their creative process.
It was really interesting to hear from joint MDs Amanda Bunn and Annabel Lloyd and Creative Heads Richard Daughton and David Abbott.
They focused on two recent (and very different) projects: a television advert for the Mitsubishi Outlander, and the thought-provoking (and award-winning) ‘Where’s the Line?’ campaign for Welsh Government. It was great to hear about not only how they made their ideas a reality, but also about all the ideas that didn’t quite make the cut.
As someone working in public sector communications, it was really interesting to get an insight into how the agency approaches planning campaigns for its wide range of clients.
It was great to see that the company were really open to working with new creative collaborators and they encouraged anyone in the room who was interested in working with them to drop them a line. I'm looking forward to seeing what ideas come from those new connections.
The most interesting fact I learned about the business was that Golley Slater in Wales spent £3m working with creative collaborators in the previous financial year.
As well as meeting a number of new people working in the creative industry, it was also fantastic to catch up with a number of colleagues from across the University and to find out more about their creative interests outside of work.
For future events, it would be great to get an insight into how creatives work in other public sector organisations in Cardiff.
One of the things that I love about Creative Cardiff is that you get the chance to meet people from a range of creative industries who love what they do. No matter what industry they work in, it is always really inspiring to meet people who are passionate about their jobs.
Would you like to suggest a business or organisation for a future Access All Areas event? Email creativecardiff@cardiff.ac.uk with your suggestions.
