The Toi Pōneke Arts Centre (61–69 Abel Smith Street,

Te Aro Te Aro (formerly also known as Te Aro Flat) is an inner-city suburb of Wellington, New Zealand. It comprises the southern part of the central business district including the majority of the city's entertainment district and covers the mostly fla ...

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

), is the

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

capital's creative production facility and support complex. It was established between 2003 and 2005, and was formally opened by Mayor

Kerry Prendergast Dame Kerry Leigh Prendergast (née Ferrier, born 28 March 1953) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 33rd Mayor of Wellington between 2001 and 2010, succeeding Mark Blumsky. She was the second woman to hold the position, after Fran Wil ...

in July 2005. For twelve years previous, the city's arts centre had been based at the much smaller

Oriental Bay Oriental Bay is a bay and suburb of Wellington, the capital city of New Zealand. Noted for being both a popular beach and a luxurious centre of affluence in the city, it is located close to the Central Business District on Wellington Harbour. ...

Rotunda. The new complex, spread across two buildings and seven floors, has a focus on active creative production in all disciplines, and on the further advancement of cultural identity in New Zealand. It is located in the bustling and dynamic Upper Cuba Street neighbourhood of Wellington. The arts centre houses a combination of 29 artist studios, rehearsal spaces, music rooms, and administrative offices. It is home to over a dozen producers, festivals, or arts organisations, including

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, the

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, Dance Aotearoa NZ,

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, and Arts Access Aotearoa. Other cultural concerns based at the facility include Wellington Photographic Society, Acoustic Routes, Empress Stiltdance, Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ, and Storytellers Cafe. There are nearly 40 visual artists working from the two floors of studio space, and the ground floor contains workshop space and a gallery which presents 15–20 exhibitions each year. The Wellington Arts Centre supports emerging and early-career artists and new projects, serves advanced creative people and established organisations, and offers community arts opportunities for the general public. There is a small staff based at the facility, including the city's Arts Programmes & Services Manager, Eric Vaughn Holowacz. The team has helped engineer new initiatives and creative projects such as

Drive by Art Drive by Art is an ongoing community public art project in the city of Wellington, New Zealand. Begun in 2003 by the City Council, with local companies Flagmakers and Resene Paints, it has commissioned over 200 original art street banners which hav ...

, Opening Notes, the Artsplash Festival, and Wellington's

Public Art Public art is art in any Media (arts), media whose form, function and meaning are created for the general public through a public process. It is a specific art genre with its own professional and critical discourse. Public art is visually and phy ...

Programme. Holowacz and staff also advise on project and audience development, collaborations and partnerships, resources and technical matters, and marketing. The Wellington Arts Centre reception desk is staffed Monday through Saturday, but the facility is in use around the clock. In July 2006, after its first year of operation, the Wellington Arts Centre was renamed Toi Pōneke, a

Māori language Māori (), or ('the Māori language'), also known as ('the language'), is an Eastern Polynesian language spoken by the Māori people, the indigenous population of mainland New Zealand. Closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan, and ...

phrase for "Art of Wellington". Toi Pōneke – Wellington Arts Centre is regularly used by artists, musicians, theatre people, instructors, and producers. In an economic report to the city council Toi Pōneke is rated as valuable to the city.

References

External links

Arts Centre Gallery link
{{coord, -41.29621, 174.77326, format=dms, type:landmark_region:NZ, display=title Buildings and structures in Wellington City Arts centres in New Zealand Tourist attractions in Wellington City