22 Feb 2022

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A platform to showcase Christchurch’s local creatives has been launched.

The Toi Ōtautahi, Christchurch arts website is now live as a space for creatives to connect, promote and and showcase their art.

Toi Ōtautahi, the city strategy for Arts and Creativity, was developed in 2019 and outlines ways that our city can support the growth and development of the local arts sector and attract creatives  to the city.

“The new website is a key part in delivering our Arts Strategy. It is what our creative community asked for in response to the strategy and we’re so happy we’ve been able to deliver it for them,” Christchurch City Council Principal Arts Advisor Kiri Jarden says.

“We have been hugely supported by our strategy partners Creative New Zealand, ChristchurchNZ and the Rāta Foundation to release this far reaching arts website.”

“On top of that, we were grateful to be awarded a grant from Manatū Taonga, the Ministry for Culture and Heritage.  This will support development of content for the website over the coming three years,” Ms Jarden says.

The website is the first of its kind for Christchurch and will be updated with new content daily.

“The site will actively promote our local creatives as well as providing resource guides, profiles, event listings and long form feature interviews and stories as well as an interactive map that will help build awareness, participation and capacity within the sector and among local residents,” says Arts Advisor Zara Potts, who is overseeing development of content on the website.

A number of creative institutions are on board to have input on the website’s content, including Audio Culture, the NZ Fashion Museum and NZ on Screen.

“We’ve often been overlooked as a city that nurtures creative talent, which isn’t true,” says Ms Potts.  

“Christchurch has been the birthplace and home of so many significant Kiwi creatives, from Peter Robinson, Rita Angus, Keri Hulme, Flying Nun, Phil Keoghan, Bill Hammond, Jordan Luck, the list goes on and on,” she says.

“Our aim is to deliver resources and opportunities for up and coming artists to really launch their careers.”