The Dowse

The Dowse Art Museum is a connected art place that explores meaningful new ideas and initiatives for our many communities.

Just a 15 minute drive from downtown Wellington, The Dowse is a nationally significant contemporary art museum as well as the public art gallery for Lower Hutt city. Opened in 1971, The Dowse forged a reputation for presenting quality exhibitions and events with a special focus on craft and design. Today, The Dowse's programming is diverse and exciting, presenting works by local and international artists to a range of audiences. A busy events calendar complements each exhibition season with artists' talks, children's workshops and a monthly Late Lounge music session.

Visitors expect to be challenged by our programmes and we aim to explore new ideas and initiatives with insight, imagination, and intelligence.

The 21st Century is an exciting time for The Dowse. The future holds opportunities for a new sustainable approach that builds on our foundations as a leader in contemporary art, our high level of engagement with our communities and an enviable gallery space.

It’s time to embrace green technologies and global communications that will enable us to revolutionise our business and our arts related practice while showing leadership in the museum sector and with our public.

Physics Room

The Physics Room is New Zealand’s most dynamic and responsive art project space, and one of the key exhibition venues for national and international art projects. Based in Christchurch, The Physics Room exists as a catalyst for the development and promotion of ideas and debate through art.

A central Physics Room aim is that parallel, integrated activities are launched in the gallery, through publications and a website, and other local public art projects, giving the issues and ideas raised by the programme the widest possible dissemination and discussion. The Physics Room aims to actively seek links between the arts and other critical areas of cultural production; to involve art as a contributing voice in wider intellectual, social, and political debate.

The Physics Room is an arts institution of national importance, with strong international links to arts organisations and project spaces with a growing international profile. The Gallery’s main aim is to provide opportunities for artists to present their work in a supportive and critical environment. As well, The Physics Room places an emphasis on long-term advocacy for the arts; developing links between New Zealand artists and their international counterparts, working in partnership with international galleries and arts organisations, and creating educational opportunities for a wide audience.

Te Tuhi

Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts is the public art gallery for Manukau City. Te Tuhi Centre for the Arts is a nationally significant regional art gallery, developing a range of exhibitions and projects by local and international artists. Te Tuhi works actively within the community of Manukau City, providing a conduit for audience engagement and participation in the visual arts, underpinned by innovative exhibitions, education and associated programmes. In addition, the Centre serves as a focal point for the community as an events venue and meeting place for our many users and community groups.

Te Papa

The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa), one of the largest national museums in the world, has attracted over 12.5 million visitors since it opened in 1998. Te Papa is recognised as a world leader in the new wave of innovative and interactive museum experiences and has quickly achieved an international reputation for excellence. Te Papa, the largest cultural project in New Zealand’s history tells the stories of this young Pacific nation; its history, natural environment, and art.Toi Te Papa Art of the Nation, a long-term collection exhibition, showcases 1000 years of New Zealand’s art and visual culture displayed in 1,500m2 (about 8 tennis courts) of gallery space. Te Papa actively collects and exhibits contemporary visual art and includes in its activities exciting projects such as the 6th floor Sculpture Terrace programme of temporary projects, such as Michael Parekowhai’s The Big OE.

Govett-Brewster

Based in New Plymouth, the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery is recognised globally as a contemporary art museum dedicated to a global vision with a special commitment to Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific Rim. It is home to the internationally significant Len Lye Collection and Archives, which are celebrated through ongoing programming and exhibitions.

The Gallery maintains and develops a contemporary art collection and presents a diverse programme of exhibitions and events. The Gallery also aims to foster the development and interpretation of contemporary art by developing new audiences and new possibilities for artists within contemporary culture.

Dunedin Public Art Gallery

The Dunedin Public Art Gallery is one of New Zealand’s four major metropolitan art museums. Established in 1884, the Gallery is today renowned for the richness of its collections, its close working relationship with major New Zealand artists, its Visiting Artist programme, the roster of exhibitions it tours to other venues and the vigour of its contemporary exhibition and publishing programme.

A highlight of the Gallery’s recent history has been a series of major touring survey exhibitions of leading New Zealand artists, each accompanied by a major publication. These include: Ralph Hotere: Black Light: Ronnie van Hout: I’ve Abandoned Me, States of Grace: Anne Noble and Jeffrey Harris.

COCA

COCA (The Center of Contemporary Art) was established in 1880 to “promote the study, practice, and cultivation of the fine arts.” It remains committed to these principles today with more than 60 exhibitions each year and the encouragement of excellence in all forms of contemporary art. The gallery values its history as Canterbury’s most-established art institution and maintains an association with artists and the arts in Canterbury, as well as its status as an organization that makes an essential contribution to the arts at a national level. COCA occupies a unique role in the region and over the past 120 years has acted as an environment in which numerous issues and philosophies about art practice have been debated.

The gallery’s exhibition programme retains a balance between emerging, mid-career and established artists. It is important that the gallery’s exhibitions challenge and stimulate visitors leaving them with an experience to contemplate.

City Gallery

City Gallery Wellington is a dynamic cultural presence in the capital city of Aotearoa New Zealand. Established in 1980, City Gallery Wellington was the first significant non-collecting exhibition based public gallery in New Zealand. Since moving to its current location in Civic Square in 1993, City Gallery Wellington has achieved a reputation for innovation and style, inspiring and challenging its audiences with a world-class programme of exhibitions and arts-related projects.

City Gallery Wellington creates a focus for contemporary visual arts, architecture and design in Wellington through local, national and international exhibitions as well as international exchanges and joint ventures with other art museums.

Christchurch Art Gallery

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu is in a striking building in the heart of Christchurch. We pride ourselves on being an important part of the cultural life of this city and of New Zealand as a whole – an attraction to which you'll return again and again. We are very proud of the many and varied exhibitions and other programmes we offer and hope you are enticed to visit, both in person or online.

This gallery is important within New Zealand's network of galleries and museums. With well over 6,000 works of art acquired since our foundation in 1932 our collection is important and varied. Canterbury is a region with a strong history of pioneering past and committed current artists – so it's also one of the finest in New Zealand.

The collection is at the core of what we show and preserve for the future, but we also source many works of art from other public and private collections around the country and internationally. We enjoy providing artists the opportunity to create new works of art in our spacious foyer and galleries as well as outside the building. We know how good art can make an immediate and important impact, and we also know that we make a difference to our visitors with what we do at the gallery.

Auckland Art Gallery

Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki has New Zealand’s most extensive collection of national and international art. A public art gallery exhibiting work from its collection along with a programme of touring exhibitions.

Key events include:

The Walters Prize, New Zealand’s richest and most prestigious contemporary art award. A biennial award for a New Zealand artist who has made a significant contribution to contemporary art.

The Auckland Triennial which has become a significant arts event for Auckland, New Zealand.

ARTSPACE

Artspace is the leading non-collecting, non-commerical organisation for contemporary art in New Zealand Aotearoa. Artspace is dedicated to commissioning and presenting new ideas in art and culture, as well as fostering critical debate and generating intellectual feedback.

Artspace develops and nurtures artistic research at a national and international level through the production of an innovative programme of exhibitions and events, and risk-taking practices.

As a non-profit charitable trust, we are accountable to all our funders and supporters and strive for transparency in our actions and processes. We aspire to develop multiple strands of funding and external partnerships to ensure our financial sustainability and growth into the future.