ARTS graduates were urged to stand proudly for selecting career paths at the heart of the UK’s economic recovery.
Guests of the first ever degree graduation ceremony to be staged in Hartlepool heard that the creative industries provided more than a third of the country’s gross national product.
And Cleveland College of Art & Design graduates were the human capital on which future prosperity of the country would depend.
More than 100 degree students from Tyne and Wear, County Durham, Teesside and North Yorkshire, as well as other parts of the country, received their honours in a ceremony staged at Hartlepool Art Gallery in Church Square.
It was the first time the ceremony had been staged just yards from CCAD’s degree level campus since linking up with the Arts University Bournemouth.
It’s vice chancellor Stuart Bartholomew, who formally conferred the awards, told guests that graduates were the most valuable national resource, particularly as the volume of people retiring was twice as large as the number entering the workforce.
He said: “Arts graduates have always been considered to be at the fringe of our economic future when they are right at the heart of it.
“To maintain living standards of Britain and Europe will require sustained investment in the knowledge base to which this college contributes.
“I am pleased to champion specialist education in this college which has a history of more than 140 years service to the region.”
BA Hons graduates included the subjects of art, photography, textiles, costume for stage and screen, film and moving image and graphic communications.
CCAD chairman of governors Graham Robson said: “Today represents a significant milestone and the completion of several years work reflecting terrific creativity of those who are graduating.”
Principal Martin Raby said students were much more likely to succeed in life if they were doing something they loved.
He added: “I hope they make their choices based on what they love and the consequences of those choices bring them joy.”
For more information on opportunities at CCAD visit www.ccad.ac.uk or phone (01642) 288888.
