Celebrating Six Years of The Creative Dimension Trust

On the 28th of September 2021, Bonhams Auction House in Mayfair, London, hosted a very special night to celebrate six years of The Creative Dimension Trust.

 

Introducing the evening, founder and CEO of TCDT, Penny Bendall, expressed how pleased she was that, despite the disruption of the global pandemic in 2020 and 2021, The Creative Dimension has been able to continue its forward progress. Thanking the hard work, creativity and enthusiasm of all of those involved in making the workshops happen, Penny confirmed that since the first lockdown in March 2020, the Trust has delivered 62 workshops with 1,485 hours of tuition.

 

With news of an impending lockdown and in order to continue offering students an exciting, engaging programme of workshops, the Trust quickly adapted its model and moved online. With the necessary technology in place, and a new range of subjects such as calligraphy, embroidery and weaving on board, the first workshops were delivered within two weeks of the initial school closures in early 2020. The success of all of these workshops would not have been possible without the Trust’s committed, world class tutors.

 

 

Speaking of the benefits of moving online, Penny highlighted that the Trust is now able to “…reach students in every part of the UK… [and help to] bring out and encourage less social students”.

 

“The Creative Dimension was a really bright spot in a difficult time when lives were disrupted and activities limited.”

– feedback from TCDT students and parents

 

Continuing to speak of the Trust’s successes this year, Penny announced the launch of the accreditation scheme which, following a successful pilot, has been launched to offer students a chance to earn respected and valuable credentials to help in their career progression. In addition to the accreditation scheme, the trust has also established an alumni committee of enthusiastic volunteers to encourage networking and recruit new students. 

 

Guests at the 2021 Bonhams event were able to speak to some of the Trust’s talented alumni and had the chance to explore some of their amazing creations. Work from eight alumni students was on display alongside three intricate architectural models from students who had the opportunity to attend workshops at architecture firm Allford Hall Monaghan Morris. Read more about our alumni here.

 

 

Also on display at Bonhams was this year’s student collaboration piece, a surrealist dining table featuring students’ work from 15 workshops all brought together by CDT trustee, Simon Costin. The pieces on show formed the trust’s first window display at Fortnum & Mason in September 2021. Read about the window display here, and see images from the unveiling here.

 

The Creative Dimension Trust is very thankful to Bonhams, Fortnum & Mason, Rooff and Daniel Watney for supporting the 2021 celebration event. To see more photos from the evening, see the photo album here.