Whanganui is set to build on its global status as a City of Design when it hosts more than 50 events over 10 days as part of the first Festival of Design Aotearoa.
Festival director and Whanganui District Council visitor experiences manager Sam Ryan says the inaugural programme offers “something for everyone”.
Whānau-friendly experiences will run alongside interactive creative events, after-dark light shows, and industry-focused international design gatherings at the festival from October 16 to 25.
“It’s a much larger programme than was originally anticipated. We are really thrilled,” Ryan said.
The festival has been built around Whanganui as New Zealand’s only United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) City of Design.
Te Papaioea Palmerston North will host about a quarter of the more than 50 exhibitions, talks, workshops, public installations and markets.
Ryan said the City of Design designation gives an opportunity to showcase what that means.
“Design is anything in nature. It is every chair, house, tool, piece of clothing, the phone in your pocket, how we shape our surroundings. This festival showcases how design shapes life in Aotearoa and beyond.”
Whanganui won City of Design status in 2021 as an initiative of the council’s economic development agency Whanganui & Partners. There are 53 cities recognised worldwide.
Ryan said while design events typically focused on industry professionals, the Whanganui initiative aimed also to engage the wider public.
“Our programme is quite broad and eclectic – it is all about being accessible and open to the public on all levels while still having those industry conversations.
“We want to showcase how design is part of your life, and the different ways people can experience it and be inspired by it.”
Events include “fun palaces” for families, creative laboratories and interactive gaming, and Lego masters recreating landmarks such as Whanganui’s iconic Kowhai Park playground.
Many events are free.
Night lights
The cultural precinct, the War Memorial centre, the regional museum and Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery will be lit up with projections from sunset to 11pm, including the Knowledge Flows series by an alumni of the celebrated Whanganui School of Design, Johnson Witehira, whose digital art has shown in New York’s Time Square, downtown Toronto and Europe.
“Those artworks are based in the fact of telling the stories of Whanganui and the awa, and he has never before had the opportunity to showcase these works here,” Ryan said.
A two-day design summit will bring industry professionals from around the world, and an education programme featuring international education and design leaders will highlight education and career opportunities to high school and tertiary students and educators.
Ryan said the aim is to build the festival into a biennial international design platform.
“At all levels, it’s an opportunity to hear from international leaders, and build networks and pathways for connections and future collaborations, and for those opportunities to blossom.”
The festival has been organised by a small team of council staff, and funded by $300,000 from the Government Events Boost Fund, $100,000 from Whanganui District Council and $30,000 from Palmerston North City Council.
“It’s been a huge undertaking, most of us doing this on top of our BAU, so it’s been a journey,” Ryan said.
“What happens when you come up with an idea like this is amazing – the enthusiasm, the connections and the networks you build by creating something like this.”
Committed to creativity
Whanganui UNESCO City of Design manager Emma Bugden said the designation has brought together the region’s strengths as a place with a long history of design innovation and “phenomenal leadership” in arts, heritage, nga toi, urban development and manufacturing.
“Together, we represent a region committed to placing creativity at the heart of our development.”
A national festival of design in Whanganui would create unique opportunities and experiences for attendees, Bugden said.
“We’re on a scale here where your encounter with design can be up close and personal. You’re able to connect with speakers and events and be part of it in a way that is a bit different to a bigger centre. We can manaaki and host you, and make you feel part of the city.”
Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery curator Cecelia Kumeroa is part of a community of local Māori creatives involved in the festival.
“We’re really proud to tautoko and it’s always special when we’re celebrating design and disseminating our local stories through design.
“Visitors will see that our awa is central and pivotal to how we’re celebrating design in our spaces. In terms of our design aesthetics, everything is oriented to the river. There’s no design or story where the awa isn’t central in some sense.
“People still seem surprised that we have UNESCO City of Design status, but we punch above our weight. I’m hoping that our Whanganui community can be a bit proud and celebrate the beauty that we have here.”
The festival starts Thursday afternoon with a pōwhiri in the forecourt of the Whanganui War Memorial Centre followed by the official opening at Te Whare o Rehua Sarjeant Gallery.
A taste of events
- He Puna Tohunga, an assembly of master art practitioners whose works are seldom seen in Aotearoa.
- An open day at Te Ao Hou Marae and its carving school, where whakairo, knowledge, identity and future generations of carvers are nurtured.
- Lego’s head of education Dr Bo Stjerne Thomsen on design as a powerful way of exploring the world.
- An immersive live show by musician Anthonie Tonnon at Royal Whanganui Opera House, blending electronic music, cinematic storytelling and visual design.
- Eugene Kara, Jacob Scott and Graham Tipene with Cecelia Kumeroa in a conversation about Māori design in civic space.
- A live fusion of brass, visual art, light and poetry creating an immersive performance inside Christ Church.
- Te Hīkoi Toi bus tour led by Warren Warbrick (Rangitāne) in Palmerston North to artworks embedded in Te Ahu a Turanga highway.
- A guided night walk revealing how light and darkness shape the experience of Whanganui after sunset.
- Public artworks by foot, bike or scooter, hearing the stories and creative thinking behind Whanganui’s streets.
- Whanganui Regional Museum curators explore the design history of Whanganui, from Māori engineering and environmental knowledge to architecture and industry.
- Glassblowing artists Amanda Dziedzic and Laurel Kohut make contemporary glass objects, showcasing the skill behind an age-old art form.
- Imaginative LEGO architecture exploring play and future thinking.
- A curator-led tour of the exhibition He Ao Āpōpō, He Ao Tea: Māori Futures.
- Tiri: Te Araroa Woman Far Walking - Auckland Theatre Company’s bilingual theatrical journey through Aotearoa’s history, from Te Tiriti to the present day.
LDR is local body journalism co-funded by RNZ and NZ On Air
