DUNDEE.- UNESCO City of Design Dundee announced the appointment of Dr Stacey Hunter as curator of the 2024 Dundee Design Festival. The appointment of design curator and Local Heroes founder, Dr Stacey Hunter points to a change of direction for the 2024 Dundee Design Festival which will celebrate the city’s 10th anniversary of UNESCO City of Design designation – the UK’s only UNESCO City of Design. The appointment is the latest in a series of high profile cultural coups for the city following the opening of the blockbuster TARTAN exhibition at V&A Dundee and the announcement of contemporary art festival Art Night taking place in the city on the 24 June.

Since its designation in 2014, the UNESCO City of Design Dundee team has delivered four festivals which showcase the work of local and national designers; raising the profile of contemporary design in Scotland. The Festival harnesses the power of Dundee’s rich design heritage, a thriving contemporary design sector and a shared commitment within the city to utilise design as a transformative force. The 5th edition will take place in Autumn 2024 and is set to be the biggest and most ambitious festival to date working with local and international partners to present a focused and meaningful programme of design-centred exhibitions, events and projects.

Design Curator Dr Stacey Hunter curates, writes and produces within a contemporary design context. Her collaborative exhibitions and projects are known and appreciated for their unconventional approach and broad appeal. As the founder of Local Heroes, her critically acclaimed exhibitions and projects have promoted Scottish design in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Tokyo, New York City and London. A V&A Dundee Design Champion, and recipient of the Creative Edinburgh Leadership Award, Stacey is committed to the development of design culture in Scotland and enlivening design and craft discourses.

Notable projects providing a platform for designers based in Scotland delivered by Dr Stacey Hunter include:

·The Future of Home, an exhibition showroom at London Design Festival 2021 celebrated Scotland’s contemporary design scene

·Still Lifes, a specially curated virtual exhibition for New York City Jewellery Week in partnership with The Scottish Goldsmiths Trust (2020) giving a glimpse of all that was new and fresh about contemporary jewellery from Scotland

·Scottish Design at Edinburgh Airport, a major design exhibition at Edinburgh Airport created specially for Scotland’s Year of Innovation, Architecture and Design 2016

She will join UNESCO City Of Design Dundee’s delivery team, led by Annie Marrs, Lead Officer of the city’s designation and recently appointed Deputy Coordinator of the Design Cities Network.

Annie Marrs, Lead Officer, UNESCO City of Design Dundee, said:

"We are delighted to welcome Stacey into the role of curator for Dundee Design Festival and by her vision to elevate the festival's profile on an international stage in our 10th anniversary year.

We believe that the role of Dundee Design Festival is to bring people together to explore design and stimulate conversations. It’s a place which sparks new ideas, discovers collaborations, creates positive change and profiles the work of designers in Dundee and beyond. Stacey is an excellent fit for our festival as she possesses the ability to work in a collaborative way with a wide variety of design disciplines complementing Dundee’s diverse research and practice-led design community.

Our team have been impressed by Stacey’s commitment to the development of design culture in Scotland and her role in enlivening design discourses. Her democratic approach to communicating about design and her work to-date offer audiences a snapshot of Scotland’s contemporary design landscape. We can’t wait to work with Stacey to create a festival which invites visitors to explore the potential of design to connect, to inspire and to transform the ways in which we live."

Newly appointed curator Dr Stacey Hunter said today:

"I'm excited to be returning to Dundee in this role during such a special edition of the Dundee Design Festival. Since the city achieved the designation of UNESCO City of Design, it has undertaken highly innovative design projects and interventions. This is an opportunity to demonstrate what a Design City looks like and to programme an international celebration of Scotland's design talent. Dundee Design Festival 2024 will anchor the city's role as a national hub for design and be a meeting point and a homecoming for designers locally and internationally.”

“Cross-cultural exchange is at the heart of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network. The values that the network and the design community have in common is an eagerness to share ideas and an enthusiasm for making positive changes using newly-formed and historic ideas and approaches. My relationship with Dundee began with my undergraduate degree at DJCAD; my training as a designer here directly set me on a path to become a design curator. Since then I have developed projects and participated in design events here in Dundee and internationally. The city is both collaborative and generous – a powerful combination and a thrilling proposition for me to work within.”

Dundee Design Festival 2024 will be delivered by UNESCO City of Design Dundee. UNESCO City of Design Dundee is delivered through the Dundee Partnership and hosted by V&A Dundee. Project partners are Abertay University, Creative Dundee, Dundee City Council, Leisure & Culture Dundee, Northwood Charitable Trust, The University of Dundee and V&A Dundee. Dundee was designated a UNESCO Creative City in 2014. Design has always been in the heart, mind and soul of Dundee. Today, the world recognises Dundee as a city which is bold, ambitious and committed to using design to help solve the challenges we face - locally and globally.