Commentary

Art Directors Club And The One Club Decide To Merge

Well, now. Downsizing, rightsizing and merging even happens within the non-profit community. The 96-year-old Art Directors Club and younger The One Club have decided to merge into one entity known as The One Club for Creativity. The new entity will serve as the umbrella organization for The One Show, ADC Annual Awards, Young Guns and their respective Halls of Fame, education and diversity programs.

The One Club began as The Copy Club and originally grew out of the ADC. The two organizations co-produced creative awards programs in the 1970s. Together, they combine a vast array of complementary programming across creative disciplines and build on their legacies of honoring excellence and championing inclusion and diversity, gender equality, professional development, mentorship and education.

Some of the programs currently within The One Club and the Art Directors Club will retain their identities: The One Show Awards, Creative Hall of Fame, Creative Week, Creative Boot Camps, “Here Are All The Black People” multicultural creative career fair, Creative Leaders Retreat, Young Ones Awards honoring students, Creative Women’s Leadership Series, ADC Annual Awards, Young Guns honoring top creatives 30 and younger, Hall of Fame, 50/50 Initiative, Paper Expo, Hands On, InspiADCion, Henry Wolf Photography Workshop for NYC public school students, Saturday Career Workshops for talented high school juniors in the five boroughs of New York and others.

One Club Board Chairman Jose Molla said: “When our board voted, the decision was unanimous. We are committed to preserving the legacy of the programs, while fulfilling the potential of each brand. The One Show is all about conceptual thinking. The ADC Annual Awards recognize great ideas founded on design and craftsmanship. There is a great opportunity to influence new creative disciplines, celebrating innovative thinking from different perspectives on a global scale.”

For his part, ADC President Philippe Meunier added: “We are very excited about this reunion and the added benefits it offers our members and the creative world. By returning to our roots in conjunction with The One Club, ADC will strengthen its nearly century-long focus as a club of creative leaders, a community of visionary thinkers and passionate, proactive doers dedicated to making and celebrating world-changing ideas. This reunion enables us to better expand our ADC Annual Awards, the world’s longest-running creative awards program now in its 95th year, our fast-growing Young Guns program celebrating the top creative leaders of tomorrow, and other programs and events.”

Sadly, it seems, the merger will not result in fewer ego-boosting award events -- which, you know, is probably a good thing because heaven forbid we do anything to rattle the fragile egos of our esteemed creatives.

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2 comments about "Art Directors Club And The One Club Decide To Merge".
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  1. Jack Mello from JAM, October 4, 2016 at 7:24 p.m.

    One note: ADC was founded in 1920, so it's 96 years old (not 20-years old).  Thanks.

  2. Richard Whitman from MediaPost replied, October 4, 2016 at 7:56 p.m.

    Jack, sorry. I see my editor fixed it. I had originally intended to write almost 100-year-old ADC but I see that I submitted "almost 20-year-old ADC." My bad!

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