Toi Ōtautahi Dispatch: February is for funding and festivals!

It's been a pretty rotten summer for most of us in Aotearoa, but we're all hoping for sunnier days this month – especially the festival goers who will be pouring into Ōtautahi for a raft of great musical gigs including Port Noise. Port Noise is now in its fourth year – and it's growing more and more popular with every year. This year the festival includes a week of build-up events which encompass poetry, visual arts, and sound before the actual festival drops on the 21st. One of those events is Delaney Davidson's Surprise Revue – which promises to be an eclectic cabaret of local talent. 

Speaking of growth, Electric Avenue has extended out to two days of great music. The tickets for this festival sold out super quickly, and I suspect many music lovers who missed out will be perched on the banks of the River Avon hoping to hear a few notes from the headliners, who include Leftfield, Basement Jaxx, The Streets and Split Enz. 

Though they may be the most visible, these music festivals are just the beginning of what’s happening in Ōtautahi this month. Here’s a round up of the most pertinent news, opportunities, and events for artists and the arts-adjacent.

New year and new beginnings for Lyttelton Arts Factory

The Lyttelton Arts Factory is a not-for-profit arts organisation and black box theatre venue focused on theatrical performance and education. This year, the community space has a brand-new management team of local artists and creatives – including Fleur de Thier, Dayle Hunt, Arran Eley, Shay Horay, David Ladderman, Tom Travella, and Pascal Ackermann. Their aim is to activate the space by celebrating artists in Port, in Ōtautahi, and also travelling national acts. It's a fantastic space and the new team is wanting to extend its already thriving education programme and continue furthering the Trust's ethos of nurturing local artists. 

New residents move into Toi Auaha, the inner-city studios

In 2023, the Christchurch City Council Arts Team took over the old YHA building opposite the Arts Centre on Worcester Boulevard. The beautiful cream and maroon heritage building now houses Toi Auaha, a welcoming central city community arts hub, where local artists from across disciplines can work, learn, connect and collaborate. It provides affordable studios, space for arts community events, and actively supports Ngā Toi Māori. There are 11 studios in Toi Auaha and a new group of creatives have moved in and are starting their creative work for the year. The residents now include musician Rebecca Robin, photographer Janneth Gil, filmmaker Oliver Dawe, and fibre artist Saskia Bunce-Rath. You can read q&as with each creative on the site here. 

Toi Auaha is also a workshop space and event space. This year, it will be home to the Auricle Listening Lounge where people can come and play their music with an audience, and the newly introduced Textile Club with Mirabel Oliver. There’s a range of regular events and workshops, so it’s worth keeping an eye on what’s happening, or booking the space for your own project!

Christchurch artist commissioned for Waitangi Day Google Doodle

On Waitangi Day, Google unveiled a bespoke Doodle, illustrated by Christchurch artist Morgan Darlison. Google has celebrated Waitangi Day through a Google Doodle since 2018, aiming to honour Aotearoa’s unique legacy. “We all came under the same stars and across the same ocean,” says Morgan. “This artwork represents the wairua (spirit) of Te Tiriti o Waitangi (the Treaty of Waitangi), as we move toward a better future with mutual respect and safety for all – especially for the next generation.”

More murals coming our way

If you’ve been smelling spray paint the central city, its thanks to a new public art project presented by PangeaSeed, Flare Ōtautahi Street Art Festival, and Watch This Space. Sea Signals: An Art Festival For Ocean Conservation, means that 10 new murals have been painted in the central city, each connecting ocean conservation,and research in the public realm. 

Applications are open for the Toi Ōtautahi Incubator Programme

Over the past few years, Toi Ōtautahi, supported by Rātā Foundation, has facilitated a successful incubator programme pairing creatives with industry mentors. It's been a very popular programme so far and we've been blessed with a host of truly inspirational mentors from Irene Gardiner to Tainui Stephens to Carmen Leonard and Pip Hall. The incubator programme has had some really successful outcomes, particularly in the music arena where mentors such as Greg Haver, Henare Kaa, and Delaney Davidson have helped local musicians get singles and albums off the ground.

Applications are now open for the 2026 Incubator Programme. This intake will have a focus on Nga Toi Māori and creative non-fiction, though applications from all areas of creative practice are welcomed. You can expect up to six months of mentoring on your project. Check out the application process here. Applications are due 15 March.

Arts Centre looking for audacious artists

Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre is calling for all audacious artists! They are looking to support arts projects that are bold and explorative. It might be a gig, a dance work, comedy, theatre, an exhibition or activation. It might be something that is cross-genre – something that you can’t pigeonhole. They're particularly interested in provocative, critical projects that explore contemporary issues (e.g. identity politics, the body, environment, technology, social or political critique) in a fresh way. Māori, Pacific, Asian and intersectional artists, ethnic and disability communities across artforms and practices should especially consider this opportunity. 

There’s around $3,000 – $5,000 available for artist fees and materials for projects from a total pool of $15,000. You can find out more here. 

Join a new writing and discussion group, Attention Studies, at The Physics Room

The call is open to join Attention Studies, a programme that aims to provoke perceptive thinking about art and related fields, workshopping and producing a quick-spirited publication that responds to a year of cultural production in Aotearoa. Contemporary art gallery The Physics Room will host ten monthly sessions, where the group will be supported to develop their own responsive and engaged writing practices. These workshops will be an opportunity to share and discuss writing together and collaborate towards a published outcome. Editorial support will be available, but Attention Studies also emphasises editing together. Writers will receive a fee for their contribution to this publication. Applications are open until 15 February, see The Physics Room website for more info and to apply.

Christchurch Creative Communities Scheme closing 27 February 

The Creative Communities Scheme is a great source of funding for artists and creative projects. You can apply as an individual or a group for up to $6,000 to support craft and object arts, dance, inter-arts, literature, Māori arts, film, music, Pacific arts, theatre, or visual arts. To get funding through Creative Communities Scheme, your arts project must either create opportunities for local communities to engage with and participate in local arts activities, support the diverse artistic cultural traditions of local communities, or enable young people under 18 years to engage with, and participate in the arts. Round two applications are open until midday 27 February. More information is available here. 

In 2025 The Court Theatre moved into a brand-new, purpose-built facility in the heart of the city. Now they're on the lookout for a part-time Deputy Production Manager – someone who can assist and work collaboratively with the Production Manager, Artistic Director and show directors. They're looking for candidates with at least three years' experience in similar roles.

Learn art histories of Aotearoa for free

Starting next week, your Wednesday evenings should be reserved for a series of three talks by curator Melanie Oliver at Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetū. She will dive into a particular line of enquiry each week. Māori art through the research of art historian, curator and academic Jonathan Mane-Wheoki on 18 February; Māori art through the research of art historian, curator and academic Jonathan Mane-Wheoki on 25 February; and women artists, gender, sexuality and the work of Julie King on 4 March. Head to the gallery’s website for more information.

A Feast for the Eyes

She's a busy woman, that Fleur de Thier – not only is she now helping manage the Lyttelton Arts Factory, but she has a new show there this month. Based in Lyttelton, Fleur is one of New Zealand's most innovative choreographers and her show ‘The Feast’ , which premiered during the Lyttelton Arts Festival, is back for a limited run early this month. The work has been created by de Thier and Renee Ryan, in collaboration with Christchurch Symphony Orchestra musicians. De Thier describes the piece as “a lavish, gluttonous, dreamlike theatre experience exploring a mother/daughter relationship that evolves in unexpected ways. It's set to live music and full of colour and imagery and is a dark comedy that's disturbing, beautiful, charming and intriguing all at the same time”.

Tapa Moana Nui at Fibre Gallery

Tapa Moana Nui are an intergenerational collective who whakapapa throughout Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa, dedicated to the celebration and continuation of tapa-making, and this month at Fibre Gallery their work is on display, showcasing collaborative works, individual works, tools and raw materials of the practice. Each piece is a testament to the enduring bonds between knowledge, creativity, and community. As well as the exhibition. Fibre Gallery will be offering a range of workshops to complement the exhibition. 

Go pondside with Objectspace 

Objectspace in Ōtautahi is offering a week-long Pondside event series this month and it's very much focused on the garden. Apropos for the Garden City! A host of local minds (artists, architects, horticulture aficionados, etc) are contributing – including lots of hands on making, and all focussed around gardens, plants, parks, and their influence on how we live and what we value. If you haven't yet had an opportunity to check out Objectspace's Sir Miles Warren Gallery, in all its modernist architectural glory, February is definitely a good time to do it. 

Toi Ōtautahi Dispatch is a monthly column and partnership with Toi Ōtautahi, the garden city’s virtual arts office. Each month we will bring you a round up of what’s happening in the arts across Christchurch. Consider it your guide to what’s on and what’s hot, according to Zara Potts.