Kaitaia celebrates iconic facilities
The Northland public meeting for ASB Community Trust will be held at Kaitaia’s new Te Ahu community facility this year.
TrustLine newsletter, March 2012
Participants in the 1 September public meeting will be welcomed into the town’s iconic cultural facility, Te Ahu, which now includes a performing arts centre, cinema, museum, library and visitor information centre.
Mark Osborne, Te Ahu’s General Manager, says the building has been an innovative community project which “reflects the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the real Far North, confirms the Far North Regional Museum’s place as the lead museum for the district and add to Kaitaia’s important positioning as New Zealand’s northernmost town.
“It’s a fantastic new community facility for Kaitaia. It will be transformational; a catalyst for revitalisation of the very Far North and the envy of many communities elsewhere in New Zealand,” he says.
The $14 million project gained a $3m grant from ASB Community Trust in 2006 and momentum has built since then.
“An important factor in all this is that for the first time in our history, the combined peoples of the Far North have established a fully integrated facility that is an accurate reflection of our past, present and future,” Mark says.
“The second theme is the emphasis upon Te Hiku o Te Ika and upon the manaaki t?ngata attributes of the Far North. We want visitors to leave in wonder at what they have experienced at the Tail of the Fish of Maui.”
More details about the Trust’s Northland public meeting will be in the next edition of TrustLine and on our website, along with details of the Trust’s other annual public meeting for the Auckland area, which will be held at the Mangere Arts Centre on the afternoon of 13 August.