Institute Preview: AGDA's Big Year for Design

For the first time since 2008, Adelaide will host the annual AGDA Awards – the most prestigious graphic design awards in the country. The awards ceremony will bring designers from far and wide to spend a weekend in Adelaide to recognise the best work in Australia – and to celebrate all that is good in the creative world. The AGDA Awards won’t be happening until much later in the year but there is much happen in the meantime. While the SA council is busy locking in the finer details for the coming months, we can reveal that we have some exciting new events and programs planned as well as the return of popular past events. Last year, speakers from Christchurch, Sydney, Barcelona, and London came to Adelaide to present to large audiences. We will continue the quality and quantity of these speaker tours again this year – with our first of these in late March or early April. We’ll bring back Shot Down again this year, allowing local designers to show off work that never saw the light of day. We’re also planning on teaming up with fellow Adelaide design associations to find opportunities to collaborate on events and add some new perspectives to the mix. AGDA SA is also going to hold our first ever Pecha Kucha event (seven speakers, 20 slides at 20 seconds each) in the coming months. 2016 also sees us increasing our output of professional development programs, with efforts to establish a Professional Mentorship program now underway, as well as a focus on assisting designers in the oft–overlooked area of business management. This is only a taste of what’s planned, so if you aren’t already onboard, head to agda.com.au to join us and be part of the collective voice of design in Australia. Shane Keane, AGDA SA Chairman agda.com.au