Stendhal Festival Director announced as winner of WeWork Creator Award

On 14th September, WeWork, the global community of creators, announced 11 winners in the incubate category at The Creator Awards, including local entrepreneur, and County Derry resident, Ross Parkhill (Festival Director of Stendhal Festival LTD).

The awards are a global initiative established by WeWork to recognise and reward creators from all over the world. The ‘Incubate’ Award category, which provides help to individuals with an idea or project that needs funding and assistance with introducing it to the world, saw finalists pitch their business idea to a panel of judges.

Ross was awarded £13,500 by The Creator Awards judges, which he will use to launch ArtAbyss – an event aimed at engaging arts-deprived young people in rural parts of Roe Valley.

Ross founded the Stendhal Festival, a multi-award-winning music and Arts Festival, 7 years ago to celebrate all things creative and establish a special community venture for Limavady. Now, Ross has a new challenge and would like to establish a completely new event within the rural landscape, targeting the most ‘creatively’ deprived children. Stendhal’s new project, ‘ArtAbyss' aims to enhance creative capacity within the region, specifically targeting tomorrow’s innovators.

Ross Parkhill said: “It was great to be a part of The Creator Awards, and to be surrounded by so many inspiring people who are out there ‘creating’.

The Creator Awards has been a fantastic experience, and we can’t wait to launch our new project ArtAbyss with the money we have won – creating endless opportunities for the rural and creative abyss!”

Eugen Miropolski, WeWork Managing Director, Europe and Israel, commented: “The calibre of entries to the Incubate category was outstanding! It was so great to see such a variety of business ideas put forward, so we are proud to be able to support these start-ups on what we’re sure will be a very successful journey!”