Ever since she set up Bright Agency 15 years ago to provide greeting card publishers, book publishers and other product sectors with first class artwork from 500 artists, Vicki Willden-Lebrecht has championed for better treatment for illustrators.
The current edition of The Parliamentary Review, which is sent to over 500,000 leading business executives and policy makers, which combines political commentary with sector specific insights includes an extensive article written by Vicki in which she shares her views on the challenges artists in the illustration industry face and calls for greater recognition for illustrators to be rightfully feted for their creative pre-eminence.
Highlighting the prominent role the UK greeting card industry in this as celebration of this creativity, Vicki makes the point: “It is important that illustration becomes better acknowledged as part of the creative sector – the industry is both thriving and accessible, as shown by the £1.7 billion spent on greeting cards in the UK alone last year.”
Vicki says that The Parliamentary Review’s decision to include the article, which is peppered with examples of design work by artists and illustrators that the Bright Agency represents, should be seen as “a pivotal moment for illustration to be acknowledged as part of the creative sector in the political journal, alongside big names such as Working Title and Blue Kangaroo. It shows growing awareness of the challenges that contributors in the illustration industry face and the progress still to be made.”
This edition of The Parliamentary Review was especially poignant the Prime Minister Theresa May wrote the foreword, especially as it was published at such a key time in British political history due to the uncertainty caused by Brexit.
“The right Brexit deal will not be sufficient on its own to secure a more prosperous future for Britain,” wrote Theresa May. “We also need to ensure that our economy is ready for what tomorrow will bring. Our Modern Industrial Strategy is our plan to do that.”
The PM stressed that building on the UK’s great strengths, in which she cited “our vibrant creative industries” as one “we can look towards a new decade that is ripe with possibility.”
The article also received acknowledgment from Lord Pickles and Lord Blunkett who are the co-chairmen of The Parliamentary Review.
In a joint message printed as an introduction to the article in the Review, they stated: “The ability to listen and learn from one another has always been vital in parliament, in business and in most aspects of daily life. But at this particular moment in time, as national and global events continue to reiterate, it’s uncommonly crucial that we forge new channels of communication and reinforce existing ones. The following article from The Bright Group International is an attempt to do just that.”
Read the full article: HERE
Top: Bright Agency’s founder Vicki Willden-Lebrecht.
