The Big Idea celebrates eight years

The Big Idea - Te Aria Nui is celebrating its eighth birthday today.

“It’s hard to believe that eight years ago we cut the ribbon on our virtual door and opened The Big Idea up for business,” says Elisabeth Vaneveld, Executive Director of The Big Idea.

The Big Idea truly is a big idea; an idea before its time and, conceived before social media, Facebook, Twitter and online publishers became such a phenomena.

What makes this year’s celebration so significant has been the relaunch of The Big Idea website on its new platform which now offers some of the latest Web 2.0 tools and also getting on top of some hard financial realities as the year progressed.

The Big Idea is nothing without its community – you. Your contributions and involvement are what make this truly a community website and we love working with you.

We are pleased that we have been able to develop new tools for our community and we are particularly proud of our forums run on behalf of Creative New Zealand [smART talk] and ASB Community Trust [SoundOut].

The wellbeing of New Zealand’s creative sector is enhanced as creative people and organisations use innovative tools such as those offered on The Big Idea to discuss and debate ideas, strategies and actions. That exchange is key to the growth and sustainability of the creative economy which in the end benefits us all.

The journey

The journey from a big idea to The Big Idea website and creative community, started with an emailed bulletin while the concepts for a website were developed. The initial website was launched in 2001 and has grown by word-of-mouth to now have more than 22,000 registered community members and averaging more than 2000 visitors a day.

Why do they come?

People come to the site looking for jobs and other opportunities to develop their careers, they come to see what is happening in New Zealand’s creative sector, events, news, issues, learning and informed debate. The majority of the content on the site is contributed by the community.

Support

If you think The Big Idea is a good idea you can show your support by giving a little donation – any donations large or small are all gratefully accepted.

 About The Big Idea

The Big Idea | Te Aria Nui is where people find the tools, networks, opportunities and inspiration to grow their 'big ideas' into viable careers, projects and businesses in the creative sector.

Built on the belief that the health of the creative industries is vital to the cultural and economic well-being of Aotearoa, New Zealand, The Big Idea is committed to the innovation of virtual community as a way of providing alternative networking and information sharing across all creative sectors. A community that is more about business networking and resourcing than about social networking. It is a place to find [what you need from the creative community] and be found [as a creative practitioner, business or organisation] - a place to see [what other people are doing] and be seen [showcase your work to the world].