This month, as part of our 25th anniversary festivities, we’re celebrating the creative spirit in all its aspects and are hosting a series of talks and workshops on the meaning of creativity and how to best get involved in the creative arts. With this mood of inspiration in mind, we’ve put together this guide to help people get creative.
DIGITAL MEDIA
Compiled by ELOUISE HOBBS
RABBLE STUDIOS
103 Bute Street, Cardiff Bay
Rabble Studios is a co-working space in the centre of Cardiff. Alongside offering a relaxing and productive office space, they also run fun events where freelancers and creatives can come together and learn new skills and share ideas. Their monthly ‘Rabble Talks’ sees local industry professionals cover everything from branding to energy, and include a helpful Q&A session. They also run great workshops, such as ‘Introduction To Adobe Illustrator’ and product photography sessions, that will get you creating great online content. Further behind-the-scenes workshops will help develop digital business skills, from accounting to the importance of online branding and search engine optimisation (SEO).
Admission: £30 per workshop
Info: www.rabble.studio
CREATIVE WEB DESIGN
Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff
Every Tuesday from Tue 9 May
Chapter Arts Centre began life as a school and despite the rejuvenation to attract a more artistic crowd, the place hasn’t forgotten its roots and continues to offer lessons to help develop the Cardiff community. Their latest course in Creative Web Design introduces the basics of HTML design, with tutors on hand to guide students to construct a simple, user friendly website. The course uses open source software like Codeine.io and Brackets to create user-friendly navigation, layouts and readability. They also cover simple graphics creation using Adobe Photoshop and sections in how to host multimedia content.
Admission: £200 for 10 weeks
Info: www.chapter.org
COMPUTER STUDIES
Cardiff University
Cardiff University run a host of part-time courses for adult learners in how to get started learning computer programmes to the more in-depth database course. You don’t need prior experience or qualifications; just some enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Their computer studies department runs courses in everything from learning Java script to CSS web development to introduction to visual basics; the classes usually run in the evening so are easy to attend alongside your day job.
Admission: varies per course
Info: www.cardiff.ac.uk
TRAMSHED TECH
Pendyris Street, Cardiff
Another community workspace that offers talks on digital tech is Tramshed Tech. This community initiative is committed to giving back and offers local youngsters internships as well as running affordable workshops to help develop the digital industry in Cardiff. Their latest talk by DK, author of the successful book Zen And The Heart Of Social Media, included his experiences of working in the social media and creative industry, and useful advice for people getting started. They are currently planning more talks, but they fill up quickly, so make sure to book as soon as they have availability.
Admission: price varies per event
Info: www.tramshedtech.net
CREATIVE MORNINGS CARDIFF
Uncommon Ground Coffee, Cardiff
Creative Mornings Cardiff are definitely worth getting out of bed to attend. These monthly talks by local creatives are free and are always fully booked. The idea behind Creative Mornings, which began in New York, was to create an accessible place where art communities can regularly meet. There are now hundreds of talks, well stocked with coffee, breakfast treats and great speakers, that take place from Australia to Paris every month. Past Cardiff speakers include Senior Designer at Bristol’s Aardman Animations, Gavin Strange, who spoke about his experiments with everything from film making, toy design, illustration and photography; Graphic Designer, Sean Rees who gave a talk on the importance of taking risks; and Jo Leech who gave a fascinating talk about the relationship between psychology and User Experience Design.
Admission: free
Info: www.creativemornings.com
CARDIFF START
Various venues, Cardiff
Cardiff Start was founded by a group of creatives, students, start-up founders and entrepreneurs, with a vision to share knowledge and helpful advice. The group have a real passion around Cardiff as a city and want to help it to develop and grow. They believe that Cardiff can be a capital city not just of Wales, but the central place to go for tech and design needs. The group hold regular talks around many themes, from ‘the evolution of Artificial Intelligence’ to ‘Startup Grind’ – a group aimed at bringing local entrepreneurs together so they can network, develop and share ideas and ultimately, grow individually and collectively.
Admission: free
Info: www.cardiffstart.com