A small place in a small space with a small black and white display only has a small offering, right? WRONG.
UXBRIDGE Arts & Culture centre in Howick carefully curates a variety of quality activities that much of the community are unaware of - so efforts are underway to bring about change.
Howick Local Board is dedicated to not only supporting the centre but also eager to assist the team in promoting this work.
Board chair Damian Light says, “The board provides significant operational funding for Uxbridge Arts & Culture centre, about a third of their income, and we are fortunate that we have the team there who deliver such a wonderful and diverse experience.
“Participating in arts and cultural initiatives enables locals to express their unique cultures and see themselves reflected in public places. We’re proud to be able to lend a hand in boosting and amplifying the work Uxbridge does, serving as an integral part of our East Auckland community.”
New Uxbridge Director Paul Brobbel is thrilled with what they have achieved in the past nine months.
Brobbel adds, “I can tell the centre is important through my first nine months as Director and the level of advice, feedback and even instructions from the community. My approach is one of change and sustainability as a platform for greater impact.
“The funding from the local board is amazing because it ensures that we can operate with and for our community and provides the basic platform from which we can sustain programming and activities above and beyond. While our other revenue generating activities support two thirds of our income, more than half of our visitation is here for artistic and cultural experiences. This means local board funding is directly delivering those experiences and well augmented by our revenue generation business.”
Founded in 1981, annually around 100,000 people make use of the centre either participating in classes, workshops, programmes, events, and exhibitions, community activities or hire.
“Despite its size, the centre offers a vast range of activities and initiatives. For instance, they have recently introduced a new free drop-in art-making space for children and families, as well as Fridays at Twelve, where talented school musicians showcase their skills, cheese making sessions, granny square crochet classes, pottery sessions, and much more,” says Light.
Just some of the wonderful workshops or classes available at Uxbridge Arts & Culture centre taking place in June.
Let’s stay connected
Follow UXBRIDGE centre on Facebook. They also regularly feature in our monthly e-newsletter so be sure to sign up to receive our Howick Local Board monthly e-newsletters.
