The Design Exchange, Canada's only institution dedicated to the practice and investigation of design, in all disciplines. This includes Fashion, Industrial and Interior Design, Architecture, Visual Communications (Graphic and New Media), Landscape and Urban Design.

Description
This conference, the first ever hosted by the DX, will explore the role of design in contemporary culture. Specifically the sessions will be divided into three streams, which reflect the development of a product (an environment or an object) from original concept in marketplace to the collector's shelf, archived documentation (or to its ultimate demise.)

Design Education
>> In a Class by Itself: The State of Design Education
These sessions will look at such teaching practices as technical and design education in high schools and design education in post-secondary curricula. It will also address broader subjects: can design talent be taught, the modern state of design education and cross-disciplinary design education.

Design and Business
>> Style and Strategy in the Market: Good Design will Sell
Design can be the great differentiator in business success. In these sessions, participants will explore issues of design process, use of design in the business cycle, aesthetics and taste, marketing and consumer culture and their implications in the economy and culture of Canada and the world's marketplace.

Design History
>> Shelf Life: From Product to Piece - How Do We Capture Our Design History?
This conference stream will focus on the final stage of a designed object or environment - when it becomes part of a collection (private or museum) or meets its demise. What are the issues regarding design, non-permanence and archiving? What responsibilities do collectors and archivists have in preserving designed objects and environments? Why do people collect? Materialism, social taste, and collective memory are all part of this discussion.

This Conference will be the occasion of the first Donald Buchanan Memorial Lecture, and it will coincide with the DX's fall exhibit BY DESIGN.

EXPECTED ATTENDEES
Attendees are expected from all over Canada in the following areas:

Design Professionals
     >> Architecture
     >> Interior Design
     >> Landscape Design
     >> Urban Design
     >> Visual Communications (Graphic Design and New Media)
     >> Industrial Design
     >> Fashion Design
Design Educators (Secondary and Post-Secondary)
Manufacturers
Collectors, Archivists and Museum Curators

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Sponsorship Opportunities are numerous and begin at the $1,000 level.
     >> Lead Sponsor
     >> Sponsor of one of three streams (Education, Design + Business, History)
     >> Donald Buchanan Memorial Lecture Sponsor
     >> Individual Session Sponsor
     >> Breakfast Sponsors
     >> Lunch Session Sponsor
     >> Cocktail Party and Keynote Speaker Sponsor

For queries pertaining to the Conference agenda, speakers, etc. please contact:
Michael Prokopow, Curator, Design Exchange michael@dx.org
Or
Elise Hodson, Director, Exhibits, Design Exchange elise@dx.org

For sponsorship queries please contact:
Susan Rutledge, Vice President, Public Relations and Development susan@dx.org