In 2014 Dudley Arthouse was selected as the winner of the Arts Access Creative Space Award, selected by a panel of judges and presented every year by Arts Access Aotearoa. We're a vocational service based in the Hutt Valley and run by IDEA services. I lead a team of four staff who work with the artists and support our creative space.

Making a nomination requires a bit of extra effort but I really want to encourage other creative spaces – colleagues, artists, friends, family, people in the community – to make a nomination for this important award.

Dudley Arthouse has had a presence in the Lower Hutt community for many years and through participation, inclusion and collaboration with our Hutt City Council, we managed to raise our profile in 2014 not only as a creative space but also by increasing accessibility to creative endeavours in our service and in the local community.

Our artists were very proud to be able to attend the ceremony held at Parliament to receive our award and it now holds pride of place in our art space. It’s a constant reminder for the artists that the work they are doing is important and doesn’t go unnoticed in the wider community.

Recently Dudley Arthouse has been through a big transition and moved to new premises in High St in Hutt City. As a result, we rebranded and are now called Arts on High.

The new space has increased our visibility and participation in our local community, and we are currently working on developing more creative programmes to increase access for other disabled artists. Sure, we’ve changed our name but we’re keeping our reputation for getting involved creatively within our community.

Receiving the Arts Access Creative Space Award has had a huge impact on our creative space. It was an achievement that helped us move into a bigger space and gave our organisation a better understanding of the importance of sustaining an accessible creative space. Watch this space.