Hugely ambitious in its vision, the Dott 07 Festival is the first of its kind: a festival dedicated to sustainable design that showcases the ideas and work of thousands of people across one region, including over 15,000 students, hundreds of teachers, over 200 designers, artists, communities, City Councils, community leaders, arts organisations, more than 100 small to medium sized businesses, and funding bodies. North East England, as one of the birthplaces of the carbon age, is pioneering ways to design its replacement and the Dott 07 Festival will showcase ideas and stimulate further debate and innovation.
The Dott 07 Festival will bring together results of Dott 07 projects that have been taking place across the region, and will enable the people involved to share experiences and demonstrate their achievements. The festival is designed to inspire visitors and provide them with ideas and practical advice on how to start or participate in similar projects themselves and help accelerate the region's transition to sustainability.
Contained within a huge specially designed pavilion on Baltic Square, the Dott 07 Festival will be divided into themed zones; Food, Schools, Energy, Movement, and Health. In each zone, the teams behind Dott 07 projects will demonstrate what they have discovered and achieved during the last year. Visitors will be invited to interact with the displays and, through conversations with project participants, earn enough ‘credits’ to take home a free limited edition Dott 07 manual, the next step in embarking on similar initiatives of their own.
Dott 07 programme director John Thackara comments:
"The Dott 07 Festival is for everyone who believes that we can have better lives with less ‘stuff’. It’s not about fancy buildings or shiny objects, but is designed to engage with people, giving them the inspiration and tools to return to their own communities and initiate projects similar to those that have been part of the Dott 07 year. That dream is at the heart of the sustainable legacy that Dott 07 is determined to leave.”
The Dott 07 Festival is part of North East England’s world class programme of events and festivals for 2007, managed by culture10, based at NewcastleGateshead Initiative. It promises to be a unique event, the like of which has never been seen before. Full details of the festival programme can be found at www.dott07.com/go/festival.
A partnership between the Design Council and regional development agency One NorthEast, Dott 07 has enabled communities and individuals in the region to collaborate with designers in realistic situations. Dott 07 is the first biennial in a 10-year ‘Designs of the time’ programme of design innovation, developed by the Design Council, and taking place every two years in a different region or nation across the UK.
For further information please contact Saskia Sissons at the Design Council on 020 7420 5248 or saskia.sissons@designcouncil.org.uk
- Dott 07 (Designs of the time 2007) is a year of community projects based in North East England that explore what life in a sustainable region could be like - and how design can help us get there.
- Dott 07 is a partnership between the Design Council and One NorthEast
- Dott 07 is the first biennial in a 10-year ‘Designs of the time’ programme of design innovation, developed by the Design Council, and taking place every two years in a different region or nation across the UK.
- Dott 07 asks the question ‘Who Designs Your Life?’ and looks at six key themes: health and wellbeing, food and nutrition, school and community, energy and environment, sustainable tourism, and mobility and access.
- Dott 07 is ‘user centred’ – it enables communities and individuals in the region to collaborate with designers in realistic situations.
- Dott 07 projects address real questions and issues, using design principles to find solutions.
- Dott 07 is being led by programme director John Thackara, renowned internationally for his work as director of design futures network Doors Of Perception, which encourages designers, technology experts and grass roots innovators to work together in new ways.
- Executive producer is Robert O’Dowd, who has extensive experience in business and creative development. He was a founding director of Classic FM and is now chief executive of Real Health (UK) Ltd and 180 Solutions (UK) Ltd.
Dott 07 forms part of North East England’s world class programme of events and festivals for 2007, managed by Culture10.
- The Design Council is the UK’s national strategic body for design. It aims to strengthen and support the economy and society by demonstrating and promoting the role of design in making business and public services more effective.
Dott is one of two national programmes of social and economic change driven by the Design Council. Designing Demand, its national business support programme, rolls out in the region later in the year.
- One NorthEast is the Regional Development Agency covering North East England. It was set up in 1999 to transform the area through ‘sustainable economic development’ and to create jobs, prosperity and a better quality of life for residents. It covers the region comprising County Durham, Northumberland, Tees Valley and Tyne and Wear.
- Culture10 is an annual curated programme of exceptional cultural events and festivals across NewcastleGateshead and North East England. Established in 2004, it is managed by the Culture10 team based at NewcastleGateshead Initiative and is funded by Newcastle City Council, Gateshead Metropolitan Borough Council, One North East, Tyne Wear Partnership, Northern Rock Foundation and Arts Council England, North East. For further details see www.NewcastleGateshead.com