The Riverfront and Newport Transport were shortlisted for the Arts, Business & Community award from Arts & Business Cymru. The award ceremony was held at the Coal Exchange in Cardiff, on Thursday 18 May.
Arts & Business Cymru are a membership organisation and charity that aim to support businesses and the arts industry by promoting and developing mutually beneficial partnerships. Last night’s flagship, annual black-tie dinner acknowledged and celebrated the very best in partnerships between the private sector and the arts.
Newport Live work in close partnership with Newport Transport throughout many different projects but this nomination was to celebrate the achievements of both The Riverfront Theatre and Arts Centre’s Big Splash festival and the support and sponsorship of Newport Transport. The Arts, Business & the Community award was to recognise a partnership that stimulates community involvement and inclusion in the arts, while demonstrating commitment and innovation.
The Big Splash festival is the largest free outdoor arts festival in Wales and attracts over 20,000 visitors to the city. The festival is a key date in The Riverfront’s annual calendar and is part of their on-going, passionate commitment to providing artistic and creative opportunities for as many people as possible across Newport and beyond.
To continue to provide this festival for free, every year The Riverfront obtains support from external partners, one of which are Newport Transport. As well as sponsorship money that helped support fees for local artists and workshop delivery, Newport Transport donated one of their buses which was parked outside The Riverfront for the duration of the festival and was used as a space for workshops and face painting. The bus was also wrapped in the pride rainbow, showing support for the LGBTQIA+ community.
Newport Transport has positioned themselves at the heart of the community and have supported many community and grass root activities over the past couple of years, so their support with Big Splash coincided with their pre-existing efforts to support the community.
Together they also promoted the use of public transport showing their commitment to Active Travel and sustainable transport and Newport Transport offered free transport for all volunteers and staff over the weekend.
Along with Newport Transport and The Riverfront Theatre, Cartrefi Conwy and Oriel Colwyn were shortlisted for the award. The winners of Arts, Business & Community award went to Cardiff Community Housing Association for their support of NoFit State Circus.
Gemma Durham, Head of Theatre and Arts at Newport Live says ‘We are so grateful to have this fantastic partnership with Newport Transport and we have been able to achieve so much with their support. We look forward to continuing our work with them and creating more opportunities for the local community and beyond. We really do appreciate all the funding and support we receive from our sponsors and partners as it supports us with carrying out the important work that we do to increase access in arts and cultural activities. We are always looking at forming new partnerships as well as building on existing relationships and if anyone is interested in sponsorship opportunities with The Riverfront, please get in touch. I’d also like to congratulate everyone in the category, especially to the winners, Cardiff Community Housing Association and NoFit State Circus.’’
Sophie Comelli, Marketing and Communications Manager at Newport Transport Ltd adds, ‘’We place a huge focus on how we can support activities and events within the local community and working with The Riverfront has helped us to creatively connect with our communities whilst supporting the arts within the city. We look forward to continuing our collaboration with The Riverfront Theatre and Newport Live.”
