NCAT's BRAND NEW WEBSITE

we are proud to announce a new website for Northern College of the Arts & Technology. It has been a long time coming and has been an exhausting process, but it has all been worth it to see what we stand for as a specialist arts & technology senior secondary, embodied in the site.

Thanks goes out to Anita Ryley (Ex Folio Preparation student) and her colleagues at See Saw Design who have managed our rebrand, Beth Gray from See Strategic who helped us articulate what we are about, Bryce Gilholme who is our web designer and all the NCAT staff who contributed ideas, copy, images and time to the process.

We love Beth's copy which really sums up what NCAT is all about:

"As a College, we recognise multiple types of intelligence. We reward practical problem solving, creativity, lateral thinking, building, fixing, designing and innovating. Every student benefits from a curriculum designed to encourage individuality and creativity. Our hands-on learning approach develops confidence, teamwork and co-operation skills for students who wish to pursue further study, apprenticeships or employment".

View the NCAT website here

Fight your way through!

We have posted this last year, but I think we should post it every year, because it is just so good! 
We only wish someone had told us this when we started out as a creatives... it is about the best advice you could ever be given. Ira Glass is an American public radio personality, and host and producer of the radio and television show This American Life. We repost this with thanks and appreciation to Ira Glass.

AgIDEAS Art and Design Forum

Porus Chaudhary's cover image for the agideas book

"DREAM - BELIEVE - DARE - DO"

Walt Disney

Our students attended the annual AGideas Futures Art & Design conference this week. AGIdeas Futures "assists in the transition from secondary into the tertiary education sector and explores pathways to a career in a broad range of design disciplines including design for film and television, graphic design, industrial and product design, animation, illustration, photography, architecture, interactive media and advertising". The students were inspired by the likes of:

• Marion Bantjes, Canadian Graphic Designer
• Porus Chaurdhary, Indian Photographer
• Jeffrey Copolov, Australian Interior Architect
• Shaun Tan, Australian Children's book Illustrator
• Joachaim Sauter, German Designer/Educator
• Dominic Di Giorgio, Australian Computer animator
• Ross Didier, Australian Furniture/product designer
• Paul Austin, United Kingdom Branding
• Kerrie Stanley, Australian Milliner
• Ree Treweek South African  Illustrator/Animator

Australia's brilliant Chris Doyle

The conference was held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre and was a sell out. Our students were thrilled to receive a 120 page hardback book featuring all the guest speakers. They left inspired and with a greater understanding of the depth of he creative industries. Images courtesy of agideas.

Having fun with our NCAT rebrand

Ex NCAT Folio Preparation students Elizabeth Brain, Sam Charlton & Yasmin Yusuf Les played around  with their Portfolios in a simple piece of stop motion for the rebrand of the 

NORTHERN COLLEGE OF THE ARTS & TECHNOLOGY

The College is being Rebranded by the amazing team at Seesaw Design, headed up by Anita Riley (McArthur) who made her own start in Design with us way back in 1999!

THE CREATIVITY GAP

The Creativity Gap – What Research Is Telling Us About Creating Now

This frightening research article explores how people feel about their own creativity. The quote " As for our educational institutions, they need to foster the growth of the entire child, with more opportunities to participate in arts programs and foster “out of the box” creative thinking" is exactly what we are about at ncat.

"Are people living up to their creative potential? In a word, no.

This week, Adobe released global research in a State of Create report to uncover how people feel about their own creativity as well as its role in the economy, society, the workplace and our educational institutions. The findings were enlightening. 

A few highlights from the data:

• 8 in 10 feel that unlocking creativity is critical to economic growth
• Only 1 in 4 believe they are living up to their own creative potential
• 75% said they are under growing pressure to be productive rather than creative at work
• More than half feel creativity is being stifled by the education system – and that feeling rises to 70% in the US
• Only about half of Americans would describe themselves as creative (global average is even lower at 39%)

We call this separation between the importance and the day-to-day reality of creativity the “creativity gap.”  That gap is pretty sobering.

So, what can we do to close the creativity gap?  First, we need to make time for creativity as well as provide the necessary technology tools and training. Productivity and creativity should not be mutually exclusive – we all need to find ways to create at work, rather than considering it a weekend hobby or luxury for those with more time.  As for our educational institutions, they need to foster the growth of the entire child, with more opportunities to participate in arts programs and foster “out of the box” creative thinking.  Most importantly, we all need to think of creativity more broadly – it’s not just the domain of professional designers or artists.  It’s a critical capability in a successful society and one that is in all of us".

Reposted with thanks: ORIGINALLY POSTED BY ANN LEWNES, SVP GLOBAL MARKETING ON APRIL 25, 2012 10:56 AM IN CREATIVES, EXECUTIVE PERSPECTIVES, OTHER COOL STUFF