ELEPHANTS STORM INTO CARDIFF: 8 VENUES TO HOST ELEPHANT PARADE’S FIRST VISIT TO WALES

Elephant Parade will make its first ever visit to Cardiff on 13^th November. The three-week visit is part of the national Elephant Parade tour that has been organised by intu to raise awareness and funds to protect the Asian elephant from extinction.

Artists and celebrities from around the UK have created designs for the 14 full-size elephant statues that will take up residence at 8 of Cardiff’s landmark and iconic buildings – including The Wales Millennium Centre, Central Library, St David’s Hall, St David’s Centre, Sherman Theatre, Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Techniquest and The White Water Centre.

The 14 full size elephant statutes visiting Cardiff will also include an elephant design from Wales’s very own Alex Jones from the BBC One Show and top Welsh artist Pete Fowler. Alex Jones who collaborated with designer Mercy Delta to create her ‘Spirit’ design, said “The Elephant Parade national tour is a vibrant and creative public art initiative that is in aid of such a good cause and is also accessible to so many people across the UK. I’m so delighted that it will be visiting Wales, Croeso Eleffantod!”

The intu Elephant Parade (intuelephantparade.co.uk) brings artists, celebrities and businesses together to create vibrant public art creations on life-size baby elephant statues to raise awareness of and funds for The Asian Elephant Foundation - a charity that supports elephant conservation projects.

Trevor Pereira, Commercial Director at intu added: “intu is proud of its long association with the city of Cardiff and as part owners of the St David’s Centre we are delighted to be bringing Elephant Parade to the city for the first time. The elephants should add some real surprise and delight to the city in the weeks before Christmas. Over a period of 12-months intu is taking the elephants to 14 towns and cities across the UK, the biggest public art expo of its kind, and as well as captivating the public, we hope the elephant statues will raise a lot of money to support the important work of the Asian Elephant Foundation and secure a future for the Asian elephant.”

As well as raising funds for Asian elephant conservation, intu is also running a digital showreel of children’s design ideas that will be broadcast to millions of people in intu’s shopping centres across the UK. Cardiff students and children that would like to submit an A4 design idea can download the Elephant Parade design template from the tour website (http://intuelephantparade.co.uk/digital).

Cardiff artist Pete Fowler, best known for his artwork for the Welsh band Super Furry Animals and his brand Monsterism has also designed a unique and vibrant elephant called “Mega Nova” that will be available to view during the Cardiff leg of the intu Elephant Parade.  A Welsh artist who works across a wide range of different media including drawing, painting, sculpture and printmaking, Pete’s work inhabits a world where character design meets music and art in a weird and wonderful way. 

Pete said: “My inspiration comes from nature, daily life, psychedelica, monsters, music and much more. My design for Elephant Parade connects with my ever growing family of characters and creatures – a world I call Monsterism. I’m really looking forward to being part of the Elephant Parade 2013 and thoroughly enjoyed designing and painting my elephant. I find it especially exciting to see the creative designs that the children have come up with as part of the school projects taking place around the UK. The imagination of children never ceases to amaze me.”

Mike Spits, Elephant Parade founder commented: “We’re delighted Pete and Alex are joining the intu Elephant Parade tour. Both these creations add new dimensions to the current tour line up, which captures a wide range of artistic styles and representation from artists around the UK. We are thrilled to be coming to Wales for three weeks. Our elephants will be dotted around the town and it will be a fun treasure hunt day out for people to find them.”

Aside for the intu national tour, previous Elephant Parades have trail-blazed cities around the world - including Amsterdam, London, Singapore, Milan and Copenhagen - have raised millions for elephant conservation and drawn contributions from top public figures, including Claudia Schiffer, Ricky Gervais, Rylan Clark, Leona Lewis, Tommy Hilfiger, Jack Vettriano, and Joss Stone.

For more information, images or to arrange interviews with intu or Elephant Parade contact:

Rebecca Ellis-Owen: 07899668853   rebecca@elephantcommunications.co.uk

Katherine Skinner: 07540644554  katherine@elephantcommunications.co.uk

Notes to editors:

1. To download high resolution images of the complete herd of elephants that are visiting Cardiff and for profile information on some of the participating artists visit the Elephant Parade social newsroom at: http://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/elephant-parade

2. The elephant Parade national tour: Official tour venues and dates

·  17 July 2013  Preview day event (surprise location)

·  21 July 2013  intu Watford (4 weeks)

·  19 August 2013  intu Trafford Centre, Manchester (4 weeks)

·  16 September 2013  intu Metrocentre, Gateshead (4 weeks)

·  14 October 2013  intu Eldon Square, Newcastle (4 weeks)

·  13 November 2013  Cardiff (3 weeks)

·  5 January 2014   intu Victoria Centre/Broadmarsh, Nottingham (5 weeks)

·  9 February 2014  intu Braehead, Glasgow (4 weeks)

·  9 March 2014  intu Potteries, Stoke (4 weeks)

·  7 April 2014  intu Chapelfield, Norwich (4 weeks)

·  5 May 2014   intu Lakeside, West Thurrock, Essex (4 weeks)

·  2 June 2014  intu Uxbridge (4 weeks)

·  30 June 2014  intu Bromley (4 weeks)

·  28 July 2014  Central London

3. Join the tour conversation on Facebook www.facebook.com/elephantparadefan or tweet using #eletour