A day of performances, live music, artist talks, arts markets and children’s workshops on Saturday 25 November will mark the Year of the Arts in Christchurch.
Using venues across the city between the Ōtakaro Avon River and the Botanic Gardens, the Ōtautahi Year of the Arts Block Party will celebrate the breadth and depth of the city’s talent.
Venues include Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū, Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art, Canterbury Museum at CoCA, The Arts Centre Te Matatiki Toi Ora, Toi Auaha Community Arts Hub, and Papa Hou at The Kind Foundation (formerly the YMCA),
Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetū will open its major summer exhibition, Spring Time is Heart-break: Contemporary Art in Aotearoa with a day of artist talks inside the gallery and RDU DJs playing on the forecourt.
Toi Moroki Centre of Contemporary Art will host a conversation between Chloe Cull (Pouarataki – Curator Māori at Christchurch Art Gallery) and Māia Abraham (Kaiwhakahaere Ngā Ratonga Maori, Manager Māori & Multicultural Services, Christchurch City Libraries) about Robyn Kahukiwa’s extensive and varied body of work, some of which will be on exhibition in the gallery in Tangata Whenua.
Upstairs, Canterbury Museum is hosting the Six Extinctions exhibition and Saturday will be the first day of annual Great Museum Santa Search competition.
The Kind Foundation (formerly the YMCA) is holding an open day, 10am – 4pm, to celebrate the completion of its new complex, which contains the especially impressive Papa Hou theatre.
From noon to 6pm, the Arts Centre will be hosting a special artist and makers market with opportunities to purchase unique pieces as well as learn new techniques and skills from a range of artists.
The D-Lawn at the Arts Centre will host performances including from Te Roopu Tuhono, Lucy Gray, Lee Martin, the Christchurch Showbiz Showstoppers and Echo.
Also within the Arts Centre, in Altiora performance space, Danny Syme from Circo Kali will lead two free circus workshops for children; one for those aged 6 – 9 and another for those aged 10 – 12. Places are limited so registration is required.
The Teece Museum of Classical Antiquities will be holding two drawing workshops; drawing from the (ancient) antique and life drawing. These are rare opportunities to engage with the amazing collections of the Teece in a guided and supported creative environment. Participation is free but places are limited so registration is required.
At Toi Auaha Community Arts Hub, Pia Hill (aged 8) has curated an exhibition titled Pūrākau, with some of Ōtautahi’s best-known creatives. Upstairs, some of the 21 resident artists will host an open studio day, while in the car park in the Tūhono Taonga Tūhono Tāngata Trust mobile carving unit, nationally recognised artist and pounamu carver Jon Jeet (Ngāti Maniapoto, Fijian Indian), along with a handful of talented facilitators, will teach anyone interested how to carve a simple pounamu form.
Hughes Development has made the green space available at 27 Worcester Boulevard, where under the banner of Yarnarchy, Gap Filler will be running free crochet workshops and yarn-bombing. Later in the afternoon, SCAPE Public Art will be holding a picnic and workshop reflecting on the work of Priscilla Rose-Howe.
Elsewhere the arts action continues, with The Court Theatre’s summer musical, Something Rotten, opening; the junior, primary, and intermediate competitions taking place in the Tūhono Kapa Haka Festival at the Town Hall; the launch of the Little Street Art Festival; Encraftment Christmas Market at Pioneer Stadium, and across the city, Arts Canterbury’s Open Studios will see visual artists of all kinds opening their working spaces for visitors.