EIT Hawke's Bay revealed its big secret on Friday night - its art and design faculty will be known as Idea School from now on.
About 200 people were at the carefully planned launch showcasing snippets of its visual arts, design, screen production, fashion and contemporary music performance courses, finishing with a short film explaining how Idea School was chosen and why.
Head of the school Suzette Major said the new brand and name reflected a new philosophy based on creativity, collaboration and convergence.
Creativity covered new ideas, convergence referred to crossing boundaries or seeking knowledge from a diverse range of areas, and collaboration celebrated difference while ensuring individuals did not feel they had to work alone, she said.
Dr Major acknowledged the hard work that had gone into setting up the faculty 30 years ago. But change was happening faster than ever, she said. Many people no longer had one job for their entire working lives but several, and in the future might find themselves working in jobs that did not yet exist, so teaching creative types a range of skills, how to share information and work together with others was better than teaching a limited set of skills.
Graphic design lecturer Anthony Chiappin and print design lecturer Jerry Gull had been working on a new brand but things really got into gear when they attended the Semi-Permanent creative conference in Auckland in May. "The central question for us was, 'where is it at?', and we realised that was our answer. We are where it is at."
The school part of the title also reflected its educational role.
