Partnership to grow ICT confidence for creatives

Date: 28 February 2007

For immediate release

Partnership will grow ICT confidence in the creative sector

The Big Idea Trust today met with senior creative sector leaders working within or closely with local authorities to discuss forming a partnership for the redevelopment and expansion of thebigidea.co.nz through Government’s Digital Strategy Community Partnership Fund. Representatives from Dunedin, Wellington, Hawkes Bay, Hamilton, Auckland, Waitakere and Whangarei were the first to glimpse proposed new technology and functionality that will substantially expand professional development, production and enterprise opportunities for the creative sector.

Since being launched five years ago, thebigidea.co.nz has attracted phenomenal interest and achieved striking success. The site’s many features – such as industry news and employment referrals – make it an essential working tool for the 55,000 people that make up the creative sector. 11,400 individuals and 300+ organisations are currently registered with thebigidea.co.nz, with membership increasing daily.

The redevelopment of the site is being undertaken in part to better equip the creative sector to confidently engage with digital technologies and the internet.

“We have grown rapidly to at least partially meet the pressing needs of the sector,” says Elisabeth Vaneveld, Executive Director of the Trust. “Those needs, in an increasingly sophisticated creative sector, now outstrip the capacities of our current technology and functionality. Our on-line community needs more enterprise growth potential built into the site, still stronger internal and external networking tools, access to global knowledge exchange and opportunities to become confident users of the many new digital tools now available. That is what we are positioning to do through this nationwide partnering initiative and the resources available through the Digital Strategy.

“Today we found points of commonality in our sector issues, needs, and enterprise potentials, as well as clear regional distinctions. Our discussions focused on how the site might encompass the common threads and the variations to further local and nationally focused needs and opportunities.

“Given the tiny scale of the New Zealand economy and population, only a strong, broad, highly cooperative partnering approach can begin to realise the vision of positioning a whole creative sector to maximise its production, its social and economic contribution to this country and to other markets.”

The Big Idea Trust anticipates an announcement about this new partnership by mid April 2007.

ENDS

http://thebigidea.co.nz

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