Wellington public arts organisation Urban Dream Brokerage is offering a series of exciting funding opportunities for public art projects that utilise vacant or public space in our city. With a total of over $50,000 to offer across 9 different funding opportunities, our community spaces can be radically reimagined and redesigned, in projects or activations commencing until July 2023.
Submissions are due by 5pm on Friday 30th September! So put your thinking cap on, check out the past activations, read through the submission criteria, and start imagining what exciting project you could submit to revitalise public space, and strengthen the mauri of our city. Create the cutting edge city you’ve always dreamed Wellington could be, by redefining how we think about our city and care for our collective spaces!
Urban Dream Brokerage — find out more
A booklist to spark your creativity
Begin with this book list we’ve compiled, designed to spark your creativity, as you reimagine Wellington:
“How can traditional Māori built environments inform contemporary urban development? How could Māori values inspire our visions for the 21st century city? What can indigenous knowledge tell us about how to create a more sustainable design for the future? Tāone Tupu Ora collects stories of iwi experiences in the 21st century, and suggests principles and theories on which to base change.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Citymakers : the culture and craft of practical urbanism / Shepard, Cassim
“Citymakers explores projects at the forefront of experimental and practical research: a constructed wetland, a public art installation in a Bronx housing project, a housing advocacy initiative. These and a wide variety of other examples comprise a cross-disciplinary, from-the-ground-up approach that encourage better choices for cities of the future.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Out of sight : urban art / abandoned spaces
“Not all art craves attention, some of it hides in secret places out in the urban wilderness, left scattered in empty rooms of derelict buildings. Found in abandoned factories, warehouses, industrial sites and deconsecrated churches, a diverse range of artists have created a movement around the idea of urban decay and abandonment as the ultimate canvas.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Living in paradox : a history of urban design across kainga, towns and cities in New Zealand / Falconer, Garth
“Living in Paradox documents the rich history of the various trials and pitfalls of the past, and paints an engaging picture of the way things could be in NZ’s towns and cities. With broad collaboration across all sectors and a commitment to creative, resourceful action, there are alternatives to accepting a bland urban landscape.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Colossus : street art Europe / Ashitaka, Julio
“Colossus is the definitive showcase of epic European street art. From Berlin to Barcelona, Budapest to Lisbon it’s a visual guide to both the astonishing and the epic. From figurative to abstract, geometric to photo-realistic, all of the major creative executions are covered in the expansive collection. This book is the culmination of years of obsessively keeping up with the explosion of the art form.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Trespass : a history of uncommissioned urban art / McCormick, Carlo
“Graffiti and unsanctioned art has grown bolder, more ornate, more sophisticated and–in many cases–more acceptable. Made in collaboration with featured artists, Trespass examines the rise and global reach of graffiti and urban art, tracing key figures, events and movements of self-expression in the city’s social space, and the history of urban reclamation, protest, and illicit performance.” (Adapted from Catalogue)
Brokered dreams : 98 uses for vacant space : urban dream brokerage 2013-2018
“Produced by New Zealand public art organisation Letting Space, Urban Dream Brokerage brokers the creative use of vacant space. From a mental health gym and a political hair salon, to a people’s cinema and a moodbank, this book details many inventive projects brokered between 2013 to 2018 in Wellington, Dunedin, Masterton and Porirua with words from both Letting Space and the occupants, with the aim of inspiring everyone to occupy space and help transform our towns and cities as places for all.” (Catalogue)