THE ARTS AND WELLBEING: It’s Friday and the morning sun adds warmth and light to the large space that is Artsenta. In one corner, a music group is singing Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah and in another, there’s a display of sculptures created for More Mad Ideas, an event organised by the Dunedin creative space as part of this month's Mental Health Awareness Week 2017. Read more about Artsenta

Disability Pride Week 2017 

16 October 2017
Disability Pride Week 2017 is happening around New Zealand from 30 November to 5 December and organisers are calling for disabled people, organisations and community groups to register their events. Disability Pride Week is about bringing disabled people together to celebrate their common humanity through a variety of activities, and sharing our stories and our creativity, say co-convenors Rachel Noble and Nick Ruane. Read more about Disability Pride Week 2017

Trish Harris’ poetry navigates hospital life

4 October 2017
Hospital life from a patient’s perspective is captured in Trish Harris’s first collection of poetry, My wide white bed, to be launched on Saturday 14 October at Pataka Art + Museum in Porirua.The The poems capture the small but significant interactions with hospital staff and other patients from the “moorings” of a “wide white bed” during a prolonged stay in hospital after orthopaedic surgery. Read more about the poetry collection

Otago Museum goes beyond the code 

2 October 2017
Tūhura Otago Community Trust Science Centre, opening in Otago Museum in early December, has gone beyond the code in accessibility – thanks to its consultation with Strawbridge Accessibility. The three-year project to “rethink and redevelop" its 20-year-old science centre was led by Caroline Cook, Director, Marketing and Development, Otago Museum. Read more

Artwork from nine prisons in Plate to Gate event

20 September 2017
For the fifth consecutive year, Rimutaka Prison and The Learning Connexion students joined forces to display 30 artworks from nine prisons at the recent Rimutaka Gate to Plate dinner, held as part of the annual Visa Wellington on a Plate. The work was displayed over three days at the College Restaurant at Rimutaka Prison as well as on the menu itself. Read more

Companion card in the too-hard basket

15 September 2017
"The Australian Government funds a longstanding and very successful Companion Card scheme – one that Arts Access Aotearoa has been advocating for since 2010. It’s a scheme I feel strongly about and I thought it was time to update you on its progress – or lack of," writes Richard Benge, Executive Director, Arts Access Aotearoa in his latest blog. Read more

Access radio a voice for Otago communities

11 September 2017
Connor McMillan’s thumbs-up says it all. A big music fan, the Taieri College student is learning how to record his radio and podcast series, Connor's Hits, to air on Otago Access Radio OAR FM in late September. It’s one of more than 85 programmes made by individuals, groups and organisations in Dunedin and the Otago region. Read more about OAR FM

Installation invites visitors to touch and play

8 September 2017
The New Zealand Maritime Museum’s new exhibition Knot Touch, opening in Auckland on 29 September, celebrates the versatility and variety of knots. The tactile nature of the exhibition makes it accessible to all ages and abilities. Using netting, rope and a range of knots, artist Jae Kang says the site-specific installation invites visitors to interact and engage with the work. Read more about the installation

Upper Hutt shines spotlight on prisoners’ art

31 August 2017
An exhibition in Upper Hutt’s Expressions Whirinaki arts centre throughout October is a chance for the public to purchase artwork by prisoners and support their journey to rehabilitation. Leanne Wickham, Director of Expressions Whirinaki, is working with two volunteer art tutors at Rimutaka Prison, Karina Fraser and Matt Weavers, to organise the exhibition. Read more about art at Rimutaka Prison 

Arts more than a “nice to have” for prisoners

31 August 2017
“The arts are not just a ‘nice to have’. I said that in an opinion piece I wrote recently that covered the wider topic of creativity, wellbeing and the essential ingredients that keep people balanced and motivated physically, spiritually and emotionally. With these in place, we can lead productive lives,” writes Richard Benge, Executive Director, Arts Access Aotearoa, in his latest blog about the role of Arts in Corrections facilities

Networking about Arts in Corrections

28 August 2017
Sharing knowledge and resources, talking about creative possibilities and challenges, and collaborating on Arts in Corrections projects are among the aims of the Arts in Corrections Network facilitated by Arts Access Aotearoa. With the networks well-established, Arts Access Aotearoa's Arts in Corrections Advisor Jacqui Moyes is calling for network members to make their names and contact details available for publication under the relevant network. Read Networking about Arts in Corrections