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.
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 Charity, Grant Stephens Family Law, Hodge Foundation, Sony UK Technology Centre, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, Wales & West Utilities, The 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 Camilleri; Karen 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.
