working in progress || elise sterback

2011-03-27

‘Auckland Unleashed’ a discussion document acting as a forerunner to the Auckland [Spatial] Plan was released last week on the 24th March.

I’ve compiled all the extracts relevant to the arts in a document with commentary available here.

Brand new website for a brand new company and… brand. Vibracorp and I will do our best this year to provide experiences for our supporters that shock and titillate their synapses.. all the while fostering local talent and bringing some creativity back into the city.. keep your ears unblocked and your eyes open for more to come soon..

Check it out —> www.vibracorp.co.nz

2011-02-17

A school camp-style new years holiday I put on this year, featuring local Auckland bands and DJs —> Stress Cadet, The Wicks, Canadia, Yule, Shy Lion, Let Me Go Drone, forEVERMAYNG, Gomez Bustamente, Graveyard Love and Scarlett Lashes. A compilation is out now with some great tracks from these bands, contact me to purchase.

2010-11-26

A great example of creative practitioners embracing inter-disciplinary collaboration - graphic designers selected architects, musicians, artists and so on, to collaborate with on a creative project. Exhibition is this weekend 26th-28th November at Achilles House.

2010-10-15

Art in the Dark is a collaboration of artists from around the inner-city Auckland area in its first year of bringing art into the night time of Western Park, Ponsonby. The group aims to represent the ideals of community and sustainability through its work.

2010-10-07

Knowledge Auckland is a newly developed information community established by the Auckland Regional Council and NZ Trade & Enterprise to encourage growth in the city through the sharing of resources. A wide range of policies and data is available from across the region.

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Auckland’s art sector and the super-city

Strong regional arts policy under the new supercity framework needs to ensure not only that activity is resourced fairly, but that it meets the diversity and also the aspirations of organisations whose impact may be far bigger than their local community. It needs to recognise the distinct differences between different areas, whilst also allowing for more connecting up of activity and venues. For the pottery and sculpture trails of Rodney to meet those of Waitakere say, or local theatre to get strong legs through touring more across multiple venues.

James McCarthy: “I came back from travelling, seeing that where it works is where they’ve put in a cultural policy at the highest possible level within the city council structure. Toronto worked with (urban study theorist) Richard Florida to bring in such a strategy. We need similar thinking.”

McCarthy sees a key need for the formation of a regional Arts and Culture Advisory group proper. Ideally he says this would be formed independently of local and central government, but would proactively engage with the new mayor, CEO and executive team of the new city in an advisory role.

In the bigger picture from his travels McCarthy is interested in the arts’ role in spatial development as part of ensuring a large city’s vibrant growth. The provisions of hubs and zones for creative industries, for example, and the need for low rent space for start-up creative endeavours such as seen in Chicago and London.

“These are cities that cottoned on to the fact that people feed off the creative industries, including the concentrated forms of the creative arts. They nurture a bigger sector. They’ve realised it’s worth a huge amount of money.

Three years ago, says McCarthy, a blueprint document was commissioned by Auckland City Council that showed that the creative industries were worth more to the city than the construction industry.

Read more from the two part article here:

Arts at Spaghetti Junction | The Big Idea | Te Aria Nui

2010-10-05

Save the Arts - by David Shrigley (England)

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so it was Saturday yesterday & I was in a good mood — put on make-up, my fuck-me-dress then drank a lot of wine & ate some food

me & Sliced beef with Béarnaise sauce were talking loud about love — that it’s fucking impossible, like I’m a really, really big hand & love is a supertiny glove

the more I drank the happier I was — & didn’t think at all about my love loss

— excerpt from ‘My Saturday Night’ in Bad Relationship Stories compiled by Drus Dreyden as a project of sensitiveboyfriend.com

2010-09-23

The Auckland Art Precinct project encourages locals and visitors to come to area around the Auckland Art Gallery and make a tour of a range of galleries concentrated in that area. They hold a series of events called ‘Arts Sunday’ which involve gallery talks, catalogue giveaways, kids art classes, exhibition previews and the opportunity to engage with exhibiting artists.

The next Arts Sunday is on the 7th November, 2010.