ARTS ACCESS AWARDS: Dunedin artist and motivational speaker Julie Woods aka That Blind Woman will join Richard Benge, Executive Director, Arts Access Aotearoa in Parliament on Tuesday 4 July to present the Arts Access Awards 2017. Read more about the awards

Exhibition marks anniversary of art space

8 June 2017
An exhibition showcasing the work of Room 5 artists will open on Monday 12 June, coinciding with the second anniversary of the art studio based at the Phillipstown Community Hub in Christchurch. Called Wharenui, it celebrates the studio as a place in the community where artists with experience of mental illness can explore their creative world in the company of like-minded people. It features sculpture, printmaking, painting, drawing and mixed media. Read more about Room 5 

ACTIVE youth in concert with Julian Raphael

24 May 2017
Composer Julian Raphael and community group ACTIVE will present a new work, We’re Gonna Get Along, in concert on Saturday 27 May. The song cycle was composed by Raphael as the 2016 SOUNZ Community Commission for the young people’s singing group. Read more about Julian Raphael and the ACTIVE project 

Making good things at Te Manawa’s NOA

22 May 2017
“Making good things in life is what I like doing,” says Anaru Davis, co-facilitator of an art space situated in the sun-lit foyer of Palmerston North’s Te Manawa, Museum of Art, Science and History. Called NOA Open Studio, the space has been running in the museum foyer since November 2016. It’s a place where anyone in the community can join in and be creative. Read more about NOA Open Studio 

Audio described musical at Circa Theatre

26 April 2017
Circa Theatre in Wellington will present a touch tour and an audio described performance of Penny Ashton’s new musical, Olive Copperbottom, on Sunday 21 May. Following the sold-out successes of Promise and Promiscuity, Ashton swaps Austen for Dickens and brings orphaned hero Olive and a squalid gaggle of Victorian characters to pox-ridden London life. Read more about Olive Copperbottom 

Living in a creative hub

30 March 2017
Graham Lalor lives right in the middle of a creative hub in the Christchurch suburb of Philipstown. Three blocks from his house in one direction is Ōtautahi Creative Spaces' Room 5, where he goes every Monday to make art. Three blocks in the other direction is the Eastside Gallery, where he volunteers two days a week. Read more about Christchurch artist Graham Lalor

Coffee and art, the perfect partners

28 March 2017
Coffee and art go hand-in-hand at Circa Café in the Christchurch suburb of St Albans, where regular exhibitions feature work by artists from The White Room creative space.The exhibitions are the result of a “fantastic partnership” with Circa Café, says White Room co-ordinator Bev Lowen. Since the partnership was formed in 2015, 11 artworks have been sold. Read more about the partnership between The White Room and Circa Cafe