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A&B Cymru Awards 2024

Wales’ best creative partnerships recognised in a dazzling ceremony

The 29th Arts & Business (A&B) Cymru Awards 2024 took place at ICC Wales on Thursday 4 July 2024.

The event, which for nearly three decades has celebrated excellence in creative partnerships, was sponsored for the 13th consecutive year by global energy company, Valero.

The black-tie ceremony, presented by Gabriella Foley and Tim Rhys Evans, revealed the winners of ten prestigious awards.

Well-known personalities including actors Di Botcher, Julian Lewis Jones, Nia Roberts and Suzanne Packer, actor and playwright Azuka Oforka, presenter and designer Anna Ryder Richardson, Grammy Award-winning Soprano Rebecca Evans and Olympic athlete and broadcaster Colin Jackson, took to the stage to present the winners with their trophies.

The evening’s spectacular entertainment was provided by Feeding the Fish and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.

A&B Cymru CEO Rachel Jones said, Now, more than ever, we need a reason to celebrate and our annual Awards was the ideal opportunity. We have been truly humbled by the way our members have responded to the many unprecedented and unforeseen challenges of recent times – with resilience, creativity and determination. The team at A&B Cymru has had the pleasure of engaging with a record number of innovative and far-reaching business / arts partnerships over the last year. This was reflected in the high-quality and inspiring nominations we received from across Wales. Many congratulations to all the partners on their fantastic work. 

Click here to view the 2024 Awards Gallery

Further details on the event, including the winners, can be found below

The Robert Maskrey Award for Arts Philanthropy, sponsored by Welsh Government

Winners: Alan and Sonja Jones

 

Arts, Business & the Community, sponsored by Wales & West Utilities

Winner: Cardiff Harbour Authority & Lighthouse Theatre & Theatr na nÓg

Finalist:            Sony UK Technology Centre & It’s My Shout Productions

Finalist:            Valero Pembroke Refinery & Vision Arts

Finalist:            Valleys to Coast & Awen Cultural Trust

 

Arts, Business & Diversity, sponsored by Cardiff & Vale Health Charity

Winner: Coastal Housing & MLArt

Finalist:            Bad Wolf & Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama

Finalist:            University of Wales Trinity Saint David & The Successors of the Mandingue

 

Arts, Business & Employees, sponsored by Wind2

Winner: Port of Milford Haven & SPAN Arts

Finalist:            Cartrefi Conwy & Role Plays for Training

Finalist:            HCR Law & Hijinx

 

Arts, Business & the Environment, sponsored by The Waterloo Foundation & University of Wales Trinity Saint David

Winner: Wind2 & Arts Connection – Cyswllt Celf

Finalist:            Newport Transport & The Riverfront Theatre & Arts Centre

Finalist:            Plantlife & Canolfan Ucheldre Centre & Live Music Now

 

Arts, Business & Health

Winner: Cardiff & Vale Health Charity & Forget-Me-Not Chorus & Motion Control Dance & Rubicon Dance

Finalist:            Adferiad Recovery & Grand Ambition

Finalist:            Pendine Park & Canolfan Gerdd William Mathias

 

Adviser of the Year Award, sponsored by Grant Stephens Family Law

Winner: Gemma Barnett, Blake Morgan & Rubicon Dance

Finalist:            Siobhan Saunders, Barclays Partner Finance & Newbridge Memo

Finalist:            Lorraine Hopkins, Bowen Hopkins & Articulture

Finalist:            Kate Fisher, Hospital Innovations & Theatr na nÓg

 

Sony Business of the Year

Winner: Cardiff & Vale Health Charity

Finalist:            Cardiff Harbour Authority

Finalist:            Coastal Housing

 

Hodge Foundation Arts Award

Winner: Grand Ambition     

Finalist:            Lighthouse Theatre

Finalist:            Vision Arts

 

The Nicola Heywood Thomas Arts Prize

Winner: Forget-me-not Chorus

The A&B Cymru Awards is made possible by a range of key A&B Cymru partners. As Principal Sponsor of the Awards for a 13th consecutive year, global energy company Valero heads an impressive list of supporters.

The category partners in 2024 were Cardiff & Vale Health CharityGrant Stephens Family LawHodge FoundationSony UK Technology CentreUniversity of Wales Trinity Saint DavidWales & West UtilitiesThe Waterloo Foundation, Welsh Government and Wind2

A&B Cymru also works with a range of event partners to ensure the success of the evening.  In 2024, they were; Entertainment Sponsor, University of South Wales, Media Partner Orchard, Venue Partner, ICC Wales, Design Partner Ubiquity, Hotel Partner Park Plaza Cardiff, Gift Partner  Makers Guild in Wales, as well as Transport Partners FlightLink Wales and Intercity Removals and Drinks Partners Barti Rum Penderyn Distillery and Tŷ Nant.

The 2024 Judges were drawn from a range of sectors with expertise in practical art forms, sponsorship and the aims of the private sector.

The individuals who took on the considerable task of judging the business partnership categories were Donna Ali, Director of BE.Xcellence; Eversheds Sutherland’s Managing Partner, Tom Bray; Freelance Arts Producer Jason CamilleriKaren Hodge, Trustee of the Hodge Foundation and Stephen Thornton, Public Affairs Manager at Valero.

The Adviser of the Year was judged by three key supporters of A&B Cymru’s Professional Development Programmes. They were Jonathan Chitty, Finance Director at the Port of Milford Haven, Managing Director of Grant Stephens Family Law, Grant Stephens and Clare Williams, Freelance Arts Consultant and Visual Artist.

The winners of the 2024 Awards were presented with trophies specially commissioned for the ceremony. They were designed and made by Bethesda based artist  Rhiannon Gwyn whose work encapsulates the rugged beauty of her home landscape by using the physical characteristics of Welsh slate and other locally sourced materials. The ceramic trophies she designed for A&B Cymru were painted with a glaze made from gorse flower collected and burned on the Carneddau mountains for conservation reasons and so each trophy literally contains a unique piece of the Welsh landscape.