Partnership blends wine with art

Partnership blends wine with art

Cable Bay Vineyards wins Creative New Zealand Award for Bravery

Cable Bay Vineyards has won the 2003 Creative New Zealand Award for Bravery for its partnership with the Waiheke Community Art Gallery and its exhibition, Sculpture on the Gulf.

The annual Creative New Zealand Award for Bravery, presented last night at the National Business Review Awards for Business Sponsorship of the Arts, is about encouraging and recognising arts and business partnerships that are visionary and involve elements of risk.

The inaugural Sculpture on the Gulf exhibition was held during January and February this year where it attracted more than 14,000 visitors. An outdoor event designed to engage people with sculptures in a non-gallery environment, it showcased 25 major contemporary works by leading New Zealand sculptors along a two-kilometre stretch of the Waiheke Island coastline.

Chair of Creative New Zealand Peter Biggs applauded first-time Awards entrant Cable Bay Vineyards for its partnership with the Waiheke Community Art Gallery and the exhibition.

"As with all successful arts business partnerships, this partnership provided benefits to both parties," he said. "These days, visionary businesses are using the arts to differentiate themselves from their competition. Capitalising on the synergies between wine and the arts, Cable Bay Vineyards gained greater exposure to the New Zealand market, particularly in the Auckland region, and branded itself as a confident, innovative and sophisticated company within an island setting."

The judges of the National Business Review Awards for Business Sponsorship of the Arts were arts patrons Adrienne Lady Stewart and Jenny Gibbs, businessman Dr Don Turkington and publisher Barry Coleman.

Commenting on the winner of the Creative New Zealand Award for Bravery, they described the project as "an outstanding demonstration of commitment to local community growth by a small business. With clever targeting of the regional market, the sponsorship launched the winery in an enterprising and dynamic manner."

In looking for a sponsor of the exhibition, the Waiheke Community Art Gallery sought a local business that would relate to the demands of organising a large-scale event on an island. It also sought a partnership that would promote excellence in the creative process and Waiheke Island as a cultural destination.

The Gallery's curator, Jackie O'Brien, said: "Cable Bay Vineyards became involved as the major sponsor without hesitation. They not only collaborated with us to produce a wonderful event but also saw possibilities and took opportunities to promote the event and their own business to our mutual benefit."

Mr Biggs noted that Creative New Zealand through its Arts Board had also supported the inaugural presentation of Sculpture on the Gulf last year with a project grant. It had also supported the eventual winner of the Premier Award, Waiheke Island sculptor Lyndal Jefferies, to create work for the exhibition.

The Creative New Zealand Award for Bravery is one of three annual awards that Creative New Zealand supports to acknowledge the contribution that other sectors make to the arts sector.

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