KUCHING – Over 250 local and international participants took part in the inaugural Cultural Entrepreneurship Factory (CEF) 2022 recently organised by Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus’ School of Design and Arts in collaboration with What About Kuching (WAK) Festival 2022.
The event, which was supported by Business Events Sarawak, was held on 21 and 22 October 2022 at Swinburne Sarawak and The Waterfront Hotel Kuching.
Themed ‘Heritage and Technology: Preserving Through Creative Industry’, CEF 2022 aimed to showcase and celebrate researchers, practitioners, entrepreneurs, industry and government bodies in the cultural entrepreneurship discipline. This was done through keynote addresses, plenary sessions and interactive workshops involving local and international creative industry experts and academicians.
At the opening ceremony held at Swinburne Sarawak, Deputy Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Datuk Snowdan Lawan, who represented Minister of Tourism, Creative Industry and Performing Arts Dato Sri Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, mentioned that the preservation of Sarawak’s arts, culture and heritage can be achieved through physical and digital mediums such as Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality.
Datuk Snowdan (second left) and others observe as a Multimedia Design student demonstrates his Virtual Reality game project.
“Elements of uniqueness and diversity found here in Sarawak can be fused and embedded in various contemporary creative outcomes such as digital games, animation, film, fashion, packaging and music.
“The works produced by our local Sarawakian creative industries have a direct impact on the preservation and promotion of our richness in arts, culture and heritage,” he said in his speech.
Swinburne’s School of Design and Arts offers the Bachelor of Design (Multimedia Design), Bachelor of Design with a major in Graphic Design and Bachelor of Media and Communication. Graduates of the Design courses have participated and won prizes at local, national and international events such as the SEA Game Awards and Microsoft Imagine Cup World Finals in Seattle, Washington, USA.
Speakers and participants of one of the plenary sessions during CEF 2022.
During the opening ceremony, Swinburne Sarawak Pro Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive Officer Ir Professor Lau Hieng Ho also announced the introduction of two new diploma courses – Diploma of Digital Media Design and Diploma of Early Childhood Education – to meet the local demand in the creative industry and education sector.
The inaugural CEF 2022 also saw the launch of The Hive Design Studio and the School of Design and Art’s ICONs featuring Noor Irwan Junaidy, an award-winning animation producer, and Neng Kho Razali, a cultural entrepreneur and fashion designer.
The Hive Design Studio is a creative space located at Level 9, Block G, Swinburne Sarawak. The space was created to meet the future design and creative multimedia production needs of the courses from the School of Design and Arts as well as the local creative industry and government bodies.
Swinburne is ranked among the Top 100 for Art and Design in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2022. Swinburne Sarawak is professionally accredited by the Malaysia Board of Technologists (MBOT) and it is the first and only Adobe Creative Campus in Malaysia.