On 29 June, the opening ceremony of "Designing the Future" - Exhibition of Outstanding Student Design Works from the HBU-UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries was grandly held at the Shijiazhuang Theatre. More than one hundred experts and enterprise practitioners from the fields of fine arts, museums and cultural institutions, media and advertising, and cultural creative and digital industries across the province gathered at the venue to view the talent development outcomes of the Sino-British cooperative education programme.

The opening ceremony was presided over by Li Shan, Chairperson of the Shijiazhuang Cultural Industry Association. In her address, Lv Yi, Dean of the HBU-UCLan School of Media, Communication and Creative Industries, pointed out that this exhibition carries threefold significance: as a summary of teaching, a showcase of talent, and a link between academia and enterprise. Feng Jianfa, Vice Chairperson of the Hebei Artists Association, emphasised in his speech that from the perspective of fine art creation and local cultural innovation, these are the core objectives of artistic design creation, and that young design talents should ground themselves in Hebei's regional culture, integrate international design concepts, and create creative works that combine warmth with vision. Jia Fuling, Deputy General Manager of the Shijiazhuang Theatre, stated in her address that the theatre will continue to open exhibition spaces to young art creators from universities and establish a long-term and stable university-enterprise art cooperation mechanism.

This exhibition displayed a total of 32 outstanding student design works from the School, constructing physical experiential environment scenarios around topics such as urban spiritual spaces, digital information environments, and the revitalisation of traditional crafts. It provided examples of innovative cultural tourism development and brand marketing proposals, achieving a deep alignment between creative expression and market demand.

At the subsequent symposium, participants included Feng Jianfa, Vice Chairperson of the Hebei Artists Association and Chairperson of the Shijiazhuang Artists Association; Cao Fengxiang, former Party Secretary of the Shijiazhuang Art Museum; Duan Jiankun, Professor at the School of Arts, Hebei University of Science and Technology; Xu Guangtong, artist at Shijiazhuang Zhengyiao Art Studio Culture Development Co., Ltd.; and Chen Li, Professor at the Department of Art and Design, Shijiazhuang Vocational and Technical College, and Director of the Industry Development Department of the Hebei Provincial Art Centre.

This student works exhibition was open to the public free of charge from 29 June to 6 July 2026.