The Digital Creative Series of events provided a unique opportunity for creatives in the South-East to gather together to meet with people from different creative backgrounds including content creators, illustrators, animators, digital artists, filmmakers, photographers and videographers.
The series was open to anyone with an interest in learning and sharing new ideas within their creative field; through a mix of talks, discussions and workshops attendees will learn how creatives are embracing the latest developments with digital technology in their industries and what’s happening in this space across the South-East region.
Digital Creatives Showcase Event
16th February 2023 – Boxworks Co Work Space, Waterford.
This event featured a range of art forms including graphic design, illustration, animation, digital art, filmmaking, photography, and videography.
In addition to the gallery, we had two exciting speakers and a panel discussion that evening. Hope Bello, Co-founder of Grúpa, spoke about the Grúpa community and the potential for digital creative collaboration in the South-East. Grúpa is an Irish-based creative community that hosts monthly meet-ups, recurring events, and exhibitions to facilitate growth and development of skills for individuals. (https://www.grupathehub.com/).
Digital Creative Series coordinator Justin Kearns introduced various digital creative networks, events, and projects happening across the South-East, and shared information on other upcoming meetups and workshops which are happening as a part of this exciting series of events.
Hope and Justin were joined for a panel discussion by author & illustrator Sarah Bowie to discuss topics such as developing creative communities in the region. Sarah is co-founder of The Comics Lab and Ireland’s first Graphic Short Story Prize in partnership with The Irish Times. She is also founder of the weekly meetup group Waterford Sketchers.
Immersive Tech in Creative Industries
Tuesday 14th March at Waterford Gallery of Art.
Following the hugely successful opening event in the Digital Creative Series the next event Immersive Tech in Creative Industries took place on Tuesday 14th March at Waterford Gallery of Art.
The event explored the intersection of creativity and technology through an insightful discussion on how immersive technology is impacting on creative industries – such as virtual production in Film and TV and augmented reality at art galleries and tourist attractions. Attendees heard from three experienced creatives about how this technology is changing the way we create and experience content and how they have embraced it within their own careers.
The speakers and panelists included:
Aaron Jay, founder of Emagine, a multi-disciplinary design agency committed to producing outstanding creative work. Aaron shared his insights on the changes he’s seeing in creative industries and how creatives can respond to the growth of immersive technology in their industries.
Linda Curtin, is an award-winning visual artist, filmmaker, and founder of Immersive Ireland. As an immersive tech enthusiast Linda drew on her experiences designing and delivering Immersive Wexford, a program that facilitated learning in the field of VR, AR, and virtual production.
Ryan McKenna, is an award-winning Indie filmmaker specialising in virtual production. He produced Ireland’s first virtual production short film “THIRST” and represented Ireland’s immersive technology cluster Eirmersive.
Is AI eating or aiding design?
Tuesday 25th April at Waterford Treasures: Medieval Museum.
The 3rd event in the series of digital creative events took place on Tuesday 25th April at Waterford Treasures: Medieval Museum. This event focused on how AI is impacting on creative industries and featured talks and a panel discussion with emerging and experienced creatives.
Conceptual photographer, VFX artist, and videographer John Bermingham introduced various AI tools which are disrupting creative industries. He provided examples of AI’s applications in design and other creative fields, including the creation of arts and marketing content for websites and publications.
Following John’s intro, digital artist Aaron Fahy shared his experiences and key takeaways from experimenting with AI to generate album covers of Irish music artists. Aaron drew on some of the ethical and moral questions he unearthed during this process and shared feedback he received after sharing the AI generated album covers online.
Aaron and John were then joined by experienced designer & facilitator John Cleere for an insightful panel discussion on the impact artificial intelligence is having on the creative industries.
This project is part of Creative Ireland Digital Creative Community Development, in collaboration with Creative Ireland Waterford, Waterford City & Council, Wexford County Council and Kilkenny County Council.
Featured Video by Gringo Pictures. Photographs by DGM Photography and Manu Lopez
