Creative Spark is delighted to partner with CFA @ NCAD to launch a brand new ‘Professional Diploma in Digital Making’ - a hands-on programme introducing learners from all backgrounds to a range of digital fabrication processes. This diploma is the first of its kind and will be accredited by NCAD and co-delivered by Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab in Dundalk.

On this fast-paced 1-year programme participants will learn to design and utilise foundational digital fabrication tools. It will enable learners to harness the opportunities opened up by digital, technological and ecological fabrication.

The Diploma will commence in November 2024 and will be taught through a hybrid format with some lectures delivered online, and in person sessions taking place in the Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab in Dundalk. It will be delivered by academic staff and technologists who are leading practitioners and researchers in their specialist fields.

Sarah Glennie, Director of NCAD said “The Professional Diploma is centred on contemporary creative practice and discourse. In today's digital era, the importance of understanding, interrogating, and mastering our tools cannot be overstated. These tools are not just external entities but pivotal instruments that shape our thoughts, aspirations, and interactions. This programme seeks to instil an attitude of proactive engagement and curiosity, equipping participants with the mindset needed for innovative digital making which is so important to the next generation of NCAD learners and meeting the rapidly evolving needs of Ireland's creative industries”.

Sarah Daly, Executive Director, Creative Spark commented “Our Creative Spark Enterprise FabLab was launched last year and is a state-of-the-art technical prototyping and fabrication space that offers a large fully-equipped lab for learners interested in digital fabrication. Participants on this programme will conceptualise, design and fabricate their own tools for research that will be employed in their own creative practices and processes. We are delighted to be collaborating with CFA and NCAD to accredit this valuable future-skills qualification for artists, designers, makers, researchers and creative practitioners”.

Louise Allen, Director of Creative Future Academy, noted at the launch: “The Diploma in Digital Making is one of many new and exciting short courses coming on stream in the Autumn from CFA. The partnership with Creative Spark is very welcome, it demonstrates how Higher Education providers can work together with industry and enable access to a wider range of creatives and business professionals interested in extending their digital-making skills. The state-of-the-art Fab-Lab facilities at CreativeSpark in Dundalk, together with prototyping and fabrication equipment at the William Walsh studio in NCAD, will provide unparalleled access to laser, 3D-print, CNC milling, casting and electronics technologies. The diploma is led by industry and academic experts and is sure to develop Ireland's digital capabilities of the future”.

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