CFA @ NCAD is delighted to partner with Creative Spark in Dundalk to launch a brand new ‘Professional Diploma in Digital Making’ – a hands-on programme introducing learners from all backgrounds to a range of digital fabrication processes. This diploma is the first of its kind and will be accredited by NCAD and co-delivered by Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab in Dundalk.
On this fast-paced 1-year programme participants will learn to design and utilise foundational digital fabrication tools. It will enable learners to harness the opportunities opened up by digital, technological and ecological fabrication.
The Diploma will commence in November 2024 and will be taught through a hybrid format with some lectures delivered online, and in person sessions taking place in the Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab in Dundalk. It will be delivered by academic staff and technologists who are leading practitioners and researchers in their specialist fields.
Sarah Glennie, Director of NCAD said “The Professional Diploma is centred on contemporary creative practice and discourse. In today’s digital era, the importance of understanding, interrogating, and mastering our tools cannot be overstated. These tools are not just external entities but pivotal instruments that shape our thoughts, aspirations, and interactions. This programme seeks to instil an attitude of proactive engagement and curiosity, equipping participants with the mindset needed for innovative digital making which is so important to the next generation of NCAD learners and meeting the rapidly evolving needs of Ireland’s creative industries”.
Sarah Daly, Executive Director, Creative Spark commented “Our Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab was launched last year and is a state-of-the-art technical prototyping and fabrication space that offers a large fully-equipped lab for learners interested in digital fabrication. Participants on this programme will conceptualise, design and fabricate their own tools for research that will be employed in their own creative practices and processes. We are delighted to be collaborating with CFA and NCAD to accredit this valuable future-skills qualification for artists, designers, makers, researchers and creative practitioners”.
Louise Allen, Director of Creative Future Academy, noted at the launch: “The Diploma in Digital Making is one of many new and exciting short courses coming on stream in the Autumn from CFA. The partnership with Creative Spark is very welcome, it demonstrates how Higher Education providers can work together with industry and enable access to a wider range of creatives and business professionals interested in extending their digital-making skills. The state-of-the-art Fab-Lab facilities at Creative Spark in Dundalk, together with prototyping and fabrication equipment at the Walsh studio in NCAD, will provide unparalleled access to laser, 3D-print, CNC milling, casting and electronics technologies. The diploma is led by industry and academic experts and is sure to develop Ireland’s digital capabilities of the future”.
For more information visit: https://creativefuturesacademy.ie/courses/professional-diploma-in-digital-making2024
Photos: Sarah Glennie, Director, NCAD, Sarah Daly, Executive Director, Creative Spark, Louise Allen, CFA Director, Professor Alex Milton, Head of the School of Design NCAD. Bernie McCoy, CFA Academic Lead, Adam Gibney, Academic Lead, NCAD, Oscar Diaz, Education and Operations Manager CreativeSpark and Tom Conaty, Business Development Manager Creative Spark.
For media inquiries, interviews, or additional information including imagery, please contact:
Pace Borza-Butterly, CFA Communications, borzabutterlyp@ncad.ie , 086 1036616
Aoife Finnegan, Curio PR,aoifefinnegan@curiopr.ie, 083 131 1089
About Creative Futures Academy
Creative Futures Academy (CFA) is a ground-breaking partnership between three leading creative institutions: The National College of Art and Design (NCAD), University College Dublin (UCD), and the Institute of Art Design + Technology (IADT). The main aim of the Creative Futures Academy is to prepare graduates for work in a major sector of the national economy; and support the career needs of creative professionals in our fast-changing social, economic, and technological contexts. Thinkers and leaders from academia, the creative arts and industry have come together to create new programmes and fully accredited micro courses. Creative Futures Academy curates tailored courses that offer exciting and flexible ways of learning, new networks, extra-curricular resources and more.
Creative Futures Academy is funded by Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3 (HCI Pillar 3) which aims to increase capacity in higher education to provide skills-focused programmes designed to meet priority skills needs
Find out more: creativefuturesacademy.ie
About NCAD
The National College of Art and Design occupies a unique position in art and design education in Ireland. It offers the largest range of Art and Design degrees in the State at undergraduate and postgraduate level, and is the only Irish university institution specialising in Art and Design. NCAD has over 1,100 full-time students and a further 450 students who take award and non-award bearing part-time classes. Further information is available at: www.ncad.ie.
Follow NCAD on Twitter: @NCAD_Dublin, Facebook: www.facebook.com/NCAD.Dublin and Instagram: www.instagram.com/ncad_dublin/.
About Creative Spark, Dundalk
Creative Spark provides dedicated training and workspace facilities in Dundalk. It welcomes and supports new and established businesses operating within the creative industries, innovation, technology, and sustainable energy sectors.
Providing dedicated training and ‘learning lab’ facilities and affordable workspaces, Creative Spark offers an environment where innovation and creativity can flourish. Networking, peer-to-peer exchange and connectivity are a daily reality for the business community working, learning and meeting in the centre.
The Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab formally launched in 2023. Creative Spark’s state-of-the-art technical prototyping and fabrication space offers more than 200 sq. metres of full equipped space, digital fabrication machinery, power tools and technologies including: FDM 3D printing , SLA 3D printing , SLS 3D printing , 3D scanning , Laser cutting, Waterjet cutting , CNC milling, Moulding and casting, Vinyl printing and cutting, Sewing and embroidery, Electronics workbench.
About HCI
Human Capital Initiative Pillar 3 (HCI Pillar 3) is a €300m programme of 24 projects across Ireland’s Higher Education (HE) institutions, using innovation & agility to increase capacity in higher education to provide skills-focused programmes, All 24 projects are collaborative between HE and Enterprise partners, and funded by the National Training Fund (NTF) to meet existing and future industry skills needs.
For more information visit their website.
