On Saturday, whilst Craig was leading a team of stalwarts coping with 1,000 visitors pounding Of All The People In All The World in Barcelona, I was luxuriating in the corporate comforts of the ICC in Birmingham. I was at the Creative Industries Awards ceremony, with Hannah, a team from the board and various glamorous partners.

If you follow the link to Birmingham Post’s article on the event you will see that it was ‘sparkling’ occasion, which it was – massive star cloth, DJs (that’s Dinner Jackets not the other kind), beautiful dresses Etc. You will also see that we ‘scooped’ the main prize, which we did.

Last year we won the International Development award at the equivalent event. The objective of entering these awards was to raise our profile in the City amongst various ‘Opinion Formers’. With this task achieved and a 100% record now feels like the time to retire from this particular field.

It’s easy to be cynical about awards (I have been many times myself) but if you take them in the correct spirit they can do a useful job for you. I hope that more arts companies will take our place next year. Although these awards are focused in a business direction it feels important that the Arts continue to be represented there. If not the City’s Creativity is in danger of being assumed to consist merely of Digital Solutions to various marketing/distribution/communication problems. Solutions found almost exclusively by young(ish) white men sat in front of sparkling new white macintosh computers.

Come on, let’s put ourselves about a bit – the city would be too sterile without us.

James