DAA among the big winners at this year’s Allianz Business to Arts awards
The award for best long-term partnership went to DAA and the Dublin Theatre Festival for DAA’s sponsorship of the festival since 2007, and specifically for its Dubliners@DublinAirport campaign, which highlighted the festival’s 2012 production of James Joyce’s Dubliners.
The award was accepted on DAA’s behalf by Public Affairs Director Paul O’Kane and Dublin Theatre Festival Director Willie White
Presenting the awards, Arts Minister Jimmy Deenihan described the event – now in its 22nd year – as “an important date in the arts calendar.”
DAA sponsored last year’s Corn Exchange/DTF production of Dubliners by James Joyce and created a month-long promotion – Dubliners @DublinAirport – to celebrate both the show and the sponsorship.
The Dubliners campaign made innovative use of social media to showcase an arts sponsorship, as Dublin Airport posted daily Dubliners excerpts on SoundCloud, and used Pinterest, Twitter and Facebook to highlight the promotion.
During the campaign, 150 free copies of Dubliners were left at the airport for passengers to pick up and those who tweeted back pictures of the book on its travels could win prizes such as tickets for the show.
Since the awards began, DAA has commissioned an artist each year to create an edition of sculptures to be presented to the winners.
This year’s sculpture, “Balance”, is the work of artist Donnacha Cahill, from Athenry, Co Galway.
“The Allianz Business to Arts Awards have, once again, shown us the broad range of possibilities when these two worlds collide,” said Business to Arts chief executive Stuart McLaughlin.
