New Civic Collection Commision for Galvanize Festival

A piece of silverware has been commissioned to celebrate the first Galvanize Sheffield festival this Autumn. Sheffield City Council with the support of Integral Leadership has sponsored Christina Spencer to produce a new piece to be added to Sheffield's Civic Collection.

Christina Spencer, a recent graduate from Sheffield Hallam University, is creating a silver bowl that will be presented to the Lord Mayor in October.

An important aim of the Galvanize Sheffield festival is to encourage the creation and display of new metal works, and the commissioned bowl will bedisplayed as part of the event.

The Civic Collection has grown alongside the city with the earliest pieces dating back to 1843 when Sheffield became a borough and had its first Mayor.

It contains precious metal pieces which have been created for function and display in civic ceremonies, as gifts bestowed to the city or commissioned to celebrate special occasions. Items in the Collection have been made by some of the city's leading silversmithing firms and individual designer makers, however the Collection has not been added to substantially over the past 30 years. An impressive display of the Civic Collection is currently on display within Sheffield Town Hall which is open during office hours.

The new annual Galvanize Sheffield festival celebrates the latest in contemporary metal design. The festival, which runs from 14th November - 9th December 2007 at various venues within the city, is intended to spark new interest in contemporary metal design whist celebrating some of the city's home-grown talent from the vibrant metalwork industry.

A growing programme of events is available on the festival website, www.galvanizesheffield.com which also provides a valuable source of information about the designers and all the latest news. From September 2007, visitors to the Design Shop area of the website will also be able to purchase items and commission bespoke pieces - perfect for that special gift!Notes to editors: Integral Leadership is a ten-day senior executive programme, two days a month for five months, is run twice a year in Sheffield. It shares between 50 and 70 management and leadership processes that can be used immediately in participants' business and personal lives to enhance performance. On successful completion participants qualify for the ILM Level 5 Award in Leadership. www.integralleadership.com

For further media information about Galvanize Sheffield please contact:

Toby Oliver, City Centre Marketing on 0114 205 3547 or 07736 026602.

Email:toby.oliver@sheffield.gov.uk .

For out of hours media enquiries ring 07711 153 995

Eleanor Crawford, Bonner & Hindley Communications on 0113 279 9909 or email eleanor@bandhcommunications.co.uk