Flagship Celebration Returns!
The Arts & Business (A&B) Cymru Awards will return as an in-person event in 2023, following a three-year hiatus during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Awards exist to encourage, acknowledge and celebrate exemplary partnerships between the private sector and the arts and the search has begun for the best creative collaborations across Wales Sponsored for the 12th year by Global Energy Company Valero, the high-profile ceremony and dinner will take place at The Coal Exchange in Cardiff Bay on Thursday 23 March.
The 2023 Awards categories are:
- Arts, Business & the Community, sponsored by Wales & West Utilities
- Arts, Business & Diversity, sponsored by Cardiff & Vale Health Charity
- Arts, Business & Employees, sponsored by Wind 2 / Octopus Energy Generation
- Arts, Business & the Environment, sponsored by The Waterloo Foundation & University of Wales Trinity Saint David
- Arts, Business & Health, sponsored by Forest Holidays
- Arts & Small Business, sponsored by Oil 4 Wales / Green 4 Wales
- CGI Business of the Year
- Hodge Foundation Arts Awards
- Adviser of the Year, sponsored by Grant Stephens Family Law
- Robert Maskrey Award for Arts Philanthropy, sponsored by Welsh Government
The award winners will be chosen by an independent panel of judges who have expertise in practical art forms, sponsorship and the aims of the private sector. The individuals who will judge the business partnership categories are Siân Doyle, Chief Executive of S4C; Karen Hodge, Trustee of the Hodge Foundation; Pianist, Composer, Producer and BBC Radio Wales A List Artist, Ify Iwobi; Leusa Llewelyn, Joint Chief Executive of Literature Wales; Race Equality Trainer and Consultant, Sunil Patel and Stephen Thornton, Public Affairs Manager at Valero.
The Adviser of the Year will be judged by three key supporters of A&B Cymru’s Professional Development Programmes. They are the winner of the title in 2021, Deb Bowen Rees, Managing Director of Grant Stephens Family Law, Grant Stephens and Adrienne O’Sullivan, founder and director of Act Now Creative Training.
The successful individuals and companies will once again receive trophies specially commissioned for the ceremony. They will be designed and made by stained glass artist Ingrid Walker who hails from the Vale of Glamorgan. The trophies she has designed for A&B Cymru have been inspired by Welsh Miners lamps and will feature illuminated landscapes of Wales, mounted on a hammered iron base.
In addition to the cash sponsors of the awards, A&B Cymru works with a range of event partners on its flagship ceremony, all of whom are central to the success of the evening. They are Entertainment Sponsor, University of South Wales, Media Partner Orchard Media & Events, as well as The Coal Exchange, Designdough and Penderyn Distillery.
