Waitakere City Council wins Premier Creative Places Award 2007

Waitakere City Council’s commitment to ensuring vibrant public spaces and an arts-rich city was recognised today when it won the Premier Creative Places Award (2007), presented by Creative New Zealand at the Local Government New Zealand Conference in Dunedin.

Waitakere City Council was also one of the category winners of the Creative Places Awards 2007 for the way in which it integrated its Arts:Design collaboration policy into the development of a new city centre for Henderson.

Waitakere City’s entry encompassed the new Civic Centre (opened almost a year ago) and the new Central Library in Ratanui St, Henderson

Creative New Zealand presents the annual Creative Places Awards to recognise local government’s vital investment in the arts of New Zealand. Stephen Wainwright, Chief Executive of Creative New Zealand, says the awards showcase exciting, innovative arts projects happening in rural and urban communities throughout New Zealand with local government support.

“The awards celebrate people and organisations working collaboratively to provide creative places, spaces and activities for their communities,” Mr Wainwright says. “Waitakere City’s belief in the importance of artists in creating a vibrant, arts-rich landscape for its citizens is commendable.”

A panel of five judges with arts and local government expertise assessed this year’s entries. They were Hilary Sumpter, Director of the Arts Promotion Trust in Whangarei; Tanya Wilkinson, an Auckland curator; Paul Matheson, the Mayor of Nelson; Ali Bramwell, Dunedin artist and curator; and Deidre Brown, senior lecturer in architecture at Auckland University.

The judges described Waitakere City Council’s Arts:Design collaboration policy and its integration into the development of a new city centre as a best practice model. “In presenting the Premier Award to Waitakere City, we are also acknowledging the scale of this project, the high level of consultation and the involvement of many local artists.”

The prize for the Premier Creative Places Award is a $10,000 contribution from Creative New Zealand towards the commissioning of a new public artwork, to be chosen by the winner. The Premier Award was chosen from the district and city council winners in the following categories:
• Arts Provision
• Cultural Festivals and Arts Events
• Built Environment.

Waitakere City Council also won the Built Environment: City or Regional Councils Category.

Four other district or city councils won category awards for their projects. They are Auckland City Council, New Plymouth District Council, Grey District Council and Kaikoura District Council. Whangarei District Council and Porirua City Council were also acknowledged with Judges’ Citations.

The Creative Places Awards also recognise an individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the arts within the local government environment. This year, the Outstanding Individual Contribution Award was presented to Te Warihi Kokowai Hetaraka (Ngāti Wai, Tainui, Ngāpuhi) of Whangarei.

Te Warihi Hetaraka is one of New Zealand’s pre-eminent tohunga whakairo – master carvers – with an international reputation. He is also widely respected for his profound knowledge of tikanga Māori, and his role as teacher and mentor.

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