Wellington Arts Centre

The Toi Pōneke Arts Centre (61–69 Abel Smith Street, Te Aro, Wellington), is a production facility and support complex in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established between 2003 and 2005, and was formally opened by Mayor Kerry Prendergast in July 2005. For twelve years previous, the city's arts centre had been based at the much smaller Oriental Bay Rotunda. The arts centre houses a combination of 29 artist studios, rehearsal spaces, music rooms, and administrative offices. It is home to over a dozen producers, festivals, or arts organisations, including Cuba Street Carnival, the New Zealand Fringe Festival, Dance Aotearoa NZ, Sticky Pictures, and Arts Access Aotearoa. Other cultural concerns based at the facility include Wellington Photographic Society, Acoustic Routes, Empress Stiltdance, Shakespeare Globe Centre NZ, and Storytellers Cafe. There are nearly 40 visual artists working from the two floors of studio space, and the ground floor contains workshop space and a gallery which presents 15–20 exhibitions each year. There is a small staff based at the facility, including the city's Arts Programmes & Services Manager, Eric Vaughn Holowacz. In July 2006, after its first year of operation, the Wellington Arts Centre was renamed Toi Pōneke, a Māori language phrase for "Art of Wellington". Toi Pōneke – Wellington Arts Centre is regularly used by artists, musicians, theatre people, instructors, and producers.