Arts potential gets River City talking

ART ON AGENDA: Students set up at The Hub for the start of last year's Wanganui Festival of Glass. The future of this and another big local art event, Artists Open Studios, is up for discussion by artists tomorrow. PHOTO/FILE

A Wanganui District councillor is calling all Wanganui artists together to discuss the strategic direction and future of Artists Open Studios and Wanganui Festival of Glass.

"With such a successful Artists Open Studios, and the Glass Festival also growing year on year, it's time for all artists to come together and discuss how these events, and other possible artistic events, might look, be funded and organised in the future," says Wanganui District Council (WDC) arts spokeswoman, Councillor Helen Craig.

A meeting tomorrow will be led by Visit Wanganui's marketing manager, Lynne Cheyne.

"Lynne has identified our art sector as a very important element in Wanganui's community, a unique selling point to attracting visitors," Mrs Craig said.

Ms Cheyne was also keen on ensuring that large events adopted strategies that didn't rely heavily on council funding.

"The combined potential of both these events needs to be harnessed to cement and secure their uniqueness in the New Zealand art scene and take full financial advantage of future growth potential."

She said these projects also contributed to building Wanganui's reputation as a great place to live, an important element of the council's economic development strategy.

This meeting comes on the back of a forum on April 16, which brought together the glass community to discuss the possibility of an independent glass centre in Wanganui, a proposal put forward by Allan MacGibbon.

It is hoped the proposal may provide a solution for the cost issues surrounding the future of the glass programme at UCOL.

"It's important we look to retain these facilities and activities they allow, and take advantage of the hard work and investment already made in this sector," Mrs Craig said.

"We would intend a facility be set up in such a way that is funded largely by the users.

It would be a stand-alone facility, to be rented by artists for personal use and teaching and independent of any single educational provider. Renting workshop and studio space, furnace and kiln time are sources of revenue.

There is a possibility it includes a glass museum, retail art shop and gallery, similar to that already run by Chronicle Glass, "though obviously we don't intend to go into competition. Katie Brown and Lindsay Paterson are collaborating with us on this project".

A survey has been sent to all the established glass artists in Wanganui to gain feedback on the proposal. The data will be assessed and woven into the proposal to be put into the WDC's draft annual plan on May 7.

"We don't expect any concrete plan to be established at this point, but it's important we start looking at the issue and get a proposal into the annual plan in the event an amendment to council policy is required."

Already Mrs Craig and Mr MacGibbon are looking at possible sites for the project. A waterfront site would be advantageous, said Mrs Craig, especially near to the i-Site, to maximise its tourism potential.

"It's important we start to move forward on this. Arts, and in particular glass, are a unique part of Wanganui's culture and significant in New Zealand's art culture, with over 50 per cent of New Zealand's glass artists, either having been trained or currently practising in Wanganui."

All artists are invited to discuss the future of Artists Open Studios and the Glass Festival and bring their ideas for other events. The meeting takes place at 5.30pm Tuesday at the offices of Te Puni Kokiri, Te Taurawhiri Building, 357 Victoria Ave.

Inquiries and ideas from the public should be sent to Councillor Helen Craig, 021 1030737, 06 345 7029, helen.craig@wanganui.govt.nz.