Creative Arts Napier, known as CAN, celebrates its 10th birthday.
Creative Arts Napier, known as CAN, celebrates its 10th birthday.
Opinion by Tania Wright
OPINION
Its celebration time at CAN as we reminisce on the past 10 years of our history at our Byron St home.
On November 1, from 5pm to 7pm, the gallery will celebrate with the opening of our CAN Team 10th Anniversary Exhibition, featuring work from volunteers, staff, and board members past and present.
Everyone is invited to attend the event and celebrate with CAN.
The building we now call the CAN at 16 Byron St was built in the 1880s as the new chambers for Napier’s Borough Council and was originally located on the corner of Tennyson St and Marine Parade.
Designed by renowned architect Robert Lamb, this is one of the few important public buildings to survive the 1931 earthquake.
Luckily, quake damage was minimal, and the building was spared from the fires that razed most of downtown Napier.
The Education Discovery Centre on Marine Parade in 2012. Many locals will remember their Earthquake Experience workshops and dressing up for Colonial Days from their primary school visits.
The weatherboard cladding was covered in stucco in 1950, and sadly, many decorative features were removed to give it a modern look.
One hundred and ten years, 12 mayors and many reincarnations later, the building was last used as the education discovery centre attached to the old museum.
In 2012 the building was chopped in half and went on a short but slow journey to its present location so that the old site could be used to build the new entrance to the MTG (museum).
In 2013, Creative Napier and Napier City Council agreed to refurbish the old chambers and create a much-needed Community Art Space, the ‘go-to’ place for all artists in Hawke’s Bay.
Cut in half and loaded on to a flatbed trailer, this part, previously the Debating Chamber, is now the Main Gallery in the CAN.
Under the leadership of then manager Christine Heaney, fundraising started in earnest, raising $500,000 for the complete rebuild and refit project. By a public vote, the Arts Centre was given a new name and the new identity of Creative Arts Napier (CAN) was adopted by Creative Napier.
On December 12, 2014 the doors were officially opened by Mayor Bill Dalton and Tania Wright, our current manager and a former city councillor.
Ten years and three managers later, with thousands of visitors and a full programme of activities for everyone, CAN has cemented its place in the HB arts community and is thriving thanks to support from Napier City Council, our artists and the wider community.
CAN is a jewel of which we can be proud – a valuable asset to the city of Napier and a fitting home for community arts. CAN has delivered on the expectations of our community, creating the model to inspire other community arts organisations across the country.
