Premier and Arts Minister Anna Bligh today announced Ewan McEoin as the Creative Director of the first Design Triennial to be held in Brisbane 4-10 October, 2010.

“Ewan brings to the Design Triennial extensive national and international expertise in the business development and delivery of design events, having led the Victorian State of Design Festival from 2007 to 2009,” Ms Bligh said.

“The Triennial is the centrepiece of our Queensland Design Strategy 2020 which is a whole of government action plan that is harnessing good design to strengthen the economy, enhance creativity and encourage business and public sector innovation.

“It will bring together international leaders from business, industry, research, academia and government and help find real-world design solutions to challenges facing this region.

“In Toward Q2: Tomorrow’s Queensland we have identified five key ambitions: strong, smart, fair, green and healthy. Design thinking and developing a strong, robust design sector will help us achieve these ambitions.”

Mr McEoin is also a board member of the Design Research Institute at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, joint Director of the Australian Design Unit and an experienced design magazine editor.

He will work with a consortium of industry professionals, led by Arts Events Management Australasia and the Australian Design Unit, across three states – Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria – to deliver the Triennial.

“This is the first program of its kind, a testament to the foresight of the Queensland Government and in particular Premier Bligh,” Mr McEoin said.

Queensland Design Triennial
arts.qld.gov.au/designtriennial