Community Connections

We strive to be more than a museum and more than a tourist attraction. We are an Art Centre: a centre for communities to gather, to connect, to have new experiences and create lasting memories. A place where everyone is welcome. 

As an Art Centre we are passionate about nurturing creativity, culture and community. We seek to encourage everyone to explore their creative side. That is creativity in how we choose to live, creativity in the decisions we make, creativity in art, creativity in looking after the natural world, creativity in connecting with each other and building resilient communities.

Connecting with our community is what brings vitality and life to our Centre and we are grateful for every opportunity that comes our way.

Some of what we do as an Art Centre includes:

Schools Programme

Inspired by Hundertwasser and the shared synergies with te ao Māori, we offer a cross-curriculum, horizon-expanding schools programme, encompassing themes of art, identity, architecture and ecology - aligned with New Zealand Curriculums and reflecting global concerns around the environment and conservation. Schools can choose to take a guided exploration or add on a workshop.

Home Schoolers

We facilitate multiple and regular sessions for home-schooled children, offering a unique opportunity to explore art, culture and creativity. Each session is carefully crafted to encourage art appreciation, child-led discussions, hands-on creativity and connection with nature.

School Holiday Workshops

A variety of facilitated art making workshops to encourage individual experimentation, creativity and play for children during their School Holidays.

Free, drop-in family art activations

These are family focused, non-facilitated, opportunities for self-led creative play and experimentation. We provide the space and the materials; you create the fun. Some of our art activations have included ‘Colour Our City’ in celebration of our anniversary and past community fundraisers, ‘Coral Gardening’ in celebration of Seaweek, ‘Expression Sessions’, self-directed, family drawing sessions, ‘A Celebration of Colour’, ‘Art Games’, and ‘Stamp Shape Painting’.

Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition

The Hundertwasser Art Centre Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition is a partnership between the Hundertwasser Art Centre and Creative Northland to promote New Zealand based sculptors and their work. The purpose of the outdoor exhibition is:

  • To provide an opportunity for NZ artists to display their art to a wider audience outside the confines of an Art Gallery and,

  • To provide the local community and visitors with an opportunity to experience sculptures in an outdoor environment at no charge.

A ‘call for proposals’ is put out twice a year and successful sculptures are displayed for a year.

Panel Discussions

We develop these in collaboration with our panel participants with a topic in mind, designed to encourage a shared conversation. Topics have included Construction of the Hundertwasser Art Centre series - Build an Experience, Opportunities for Creativity, & Build a Community, Conservation Week - Bringing Past and Present Perspectives Together, Death & Dying, Conservation Week - Celebrating and Promoting Community Conservation People & Projects.

Director Conversations

These are an exploration of different topics, every two months, hosted by our Director, Joost de Bruin. The topics cover Hundertwasser, his passions, ideas, his connection to New Zealand, his thoughts on life, living, architecture and art.

Silver Festival

In celebration of ‘Age Friendly Whangārei’ we participate in the annual Silver Festival. It’s a great opportunity to “…try something new, connect and make new friends, be active, get creative and, most importantly, have fun!”. For 2025 we put on a morning tea, guided tour, played a game called ‘Windows & Wonders’ and provided free entry for the day to all participants. The game was designed to encourage looking and exploring your environment to find unexpected surprises and delights. It was a lot of fun and filled the space with laughter.

Maritime Festival

We participate and support the Whangārei Maritime Festival every year. It is always a great weekend and a fantastic time when the town basin comes alives with people and activities. Along with the Black Ball Maritime Society, we hope that “with Whangārei’s long history as a maritime centre, (…) the community will see this festival as a way to celebrate its maritime past, present and future.”

ArtBeat

We love ArtBeat and have supported and been a part of this dynamic community celebration of all things creative for the last two years. Organised by Creative Northland, “ArtBeat is an annual event coming into its 29th year! It’s a celebration of art, culture, heritage and community creativity. A vibrant platform for our multicultural & diverse community to showcase their talents, creativity, and enrich the cultural fabric of our society.”

Community Group Exhibitions

Over the years we have had the opportunity to support and share the creativity and inspiration of participants from several special organisations, including our school communities. We love to provide exhibition opportunities, open to the public, free.

 

Some of the wonderful community groups we have had the opportunity to collaborate with and continue to collaborate with include:

 

IHAD – I Have a Dream

I Have a Dream Charitable Trust (IHAD) use proven and evidenced-based kaupapa to reach into targeted schools and realise amazing outcomes, including for at-risk learners. By walking alongside tamariki from the early years of schooling through to their critical teenage years the IHAD Navigators support tamariki to turn aspiration into reality. Their whole child approach has already generated incredible results for nearly 1000 Kiwi kids, who are known as the Dreamers. 

The Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery work collaboratively to develop a bespoke programme for around 10 dreamers per term. Linking to the IHAD Navigator’s learning intentions for each term and utilising their knowledge of each dreamer, we create bespoke after-school programmes of creative exploration and learning.

These highlight aspects of te Ao Māori through the exhibitions at Wairau Māori Art Gallery, strengthen dreamer connection to the local rohe/region through iwi knowledge, and through the ‘Hundertwasser in New Zealand Exhibition’ inspire environmental leadership, creativity and changemaking.

NorthAble – LYNKZ

The LYNKZ crew are a group of diverse adults smashing barriers and living life to the fullest with the support of NorthAble. LYNKZ is a community participation programme for adults with learning, intellectual, physical, sensory disabilities or conditions through NorthAble Matapuna Hauora.

The LYNKZ crew visit us at the Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery about every month to explore our exhibitions and Afforested Roof. We always muck in with a new art project every session exploring different kinds of media and materials. The LYNKZ crew need little instruction as their creative energies run very close to the surface. They never fail to amaze, astound and delight us with their creations. It’s an honour to display their works which they completed with us, as well as some of their other art projects each year in an annual celebration of their artist prowess.

Multicultural Whangārei and English Language Partners

We brainstormed with Multicultural Whangārei and English Language Partners and supported them in a very special morning of ‘Echoes of Home - Migrant Stories’. This was a special opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the many different individuals, ethnic groups and cultures that are part of our community. It was also a very special learning opportunity and a chance to celebrate Multicultural Day.

Whangārei Central Library

Our first collaboration with Whangārei Central Library is a free family Treasure Hunt in Celebration of World Children’s Day, with the hope that this may become an annual event.

EcoSolutions

We support the work of EcoSolutions and have enjoyed numerous opportunities for collaboration including hosting Green Drinks, ‘Make and Mend’ sessions, waste audits and composting strategies as well as creative workshops.

Creative Northland

We appreciate and support the work that Creative Northland do connecting and growing Arts, Culture and Heritage in Northland. Two important initiatives that we have had the opportunity to collaborate with Creative Northland are our Hundertwasser Art Centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery Outdoor Sculpture Exhibition and ArtBeat.

Glass Ceiling Arts Collective

Glass Ceiling Arts Collective is an arts community who believe that young people with disabilities should not be defined by their disability but, rather, they should be afforded the opportunity to enjoy the performing arts alongside their non-disabled peers. We were delighted to host the Glass Ceiling Arts Collective in March 2025 for two days of six workshops for the Sensory Lab. These workshops were unique, highly creative and accessible to a wide range of participants, both in age, cultures and learning abilities, primary school children all the way up to people with profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD) in aged residential care. 

The facilitators created a welcoming and fun world of magic, experimentation and exploration. A highlight for us, as well as seeing all the joy and wonder on the face of the participants, was seeing our outdoor atrium space being transformed into ‘an aquarium of wonder, complete with bubbles and glowing jellyfish’.

Gentle Conversations about Death & Dying (previously known as Whangārei Death Café)

We provide the space for Gentle Conversations about Death & Dying. It is a group directed discussion about death and dying with no agenda other than the questions we bring and the information we share about something that touches us all. Gentle conversations are offered on a not-for-profit basis with no intention of leading people to any conclusion, product or course of action. Our objective is ‘to increase awareness of death with a view to helping people make the most of their (finite) lives’.

Dying Matters Week

We continue to support and participate in Dying Matters Week Aotearoa. “Dying Matters Week connects people across Aotearoa to start conversations in a safe space, learn from local experts and seek support to get affairs in order and navigate grief or loss.”

Lions Whangārei

In 2025 we were thrilled to have the opportunity to support the Lions Peace Poster Competition.

The annual Lions International Peace Poster Competition has officially begun its 2025 New Zealand journey here in Whangārei. The theme for this year's contest, "Together as One," inspired young artists to create powerful visual representations of people uniting to foster peace in the world.

The Whangarei Lions Club, and Hikurangi Lions clubs were both represented, and the gallery walls were brought to life with more than 60 impressive and imaginative entries from seven local schools. The posters showcased a remarkable display of creative, colourful, and heartfelt designs from the talented young participants.

The local community played a vital role in the judging process, with over 200 public votes cast to help determine the deserving winners. Every student who submitted an entry demonstrated incredible passion and creativity, making the task of selecting a winner a true challenge.

Choir groups

Various choir groups including Auckland Youth Choir, New Zealand Youth Choir, and La Sorellanza from Hawaii have done pop up performances in and around our Centre. We believe passionately in the power of music and its importance in supporting wellbeing. This is an aspect we’d love to see more of at the Hundertwasser Art centre with Wairau Māori Art Gallery.

 

Your thoughts and ideas

Please approach us to share any ideas you may have. We’d love to hear from you. Please email enquiries@hundertwasserartcentre.co.nz or call 09 430 4230.