When more than 200 players from Auckland’s $8 billion creative economy answered an invite to discuss turbocharging Henderson’s film, theatre and performance industry, planners knew they must be on the right track.
The result is the Te Puna Creative Hub, the genesis of an Auckland Council-backed effort to add muscleto Henderson’s reputation as a creative industry stronghold, and to create jobs and export opportunities by attracting business and investment to a district where only 200 new jobs have surfaced in 20 years.
The hub will be the heart of a wider initiative called the Te Puna Creative Innovation Quarter, a precinct of creative industries linking Henderson Village, Corban Estate Arts Centre and Auckland Film Studios in Henderson Valley. The Te Puna hub is the quarter’s first stage.
Pam Ford.
Its prospects look bright, says Pam Ford, a director at Tataki Auckland Unlimited, Auckland Council’s economic and cultural agency, which is driving the bid to create a world-class centre of excellence for creative industries in Auckland. The agency’s partner in the innovation project is the mana whenua authority for Henderson, Te Kawerau ā Maki.
Ford says emboldened by the large and enthusiastic turnout to her agency’s call for creative community opinion, it last year took a five-year lease of the former Whoa! Studios site on Henderson Valley Rd to provide space for collaboration, innovation and upskilling and offering creative businesses and the local community access to world-class resources and training opportunities.
The lease will cost $8 million, offset by expected revenue of around $5.5m. The agency will finance the shortfall of $2.5m out of its council budget. The former studios have been refitted and refurbished, now offering a multi-functional 159-seat digital theatre and black box studio, along with spaces for performance, filming, conferences, award ceremonies and exhibitions.
On the set of the big budget Disney film Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board being filmed in West Auckland. The movie is about a teen snowboarding champ from Vermont who returns to Oahu, Hawaii, for a wedding. The location was chosen for its similarities to parts of Hawaii. 16 February 2007 New Zealand Herald Photograph by Dean Purcell
NZH 23Oct09 - ALOHA WAITAKERE: The big-budget Disney film Johnny Kapahala: Back on Board was filmed in West Auckland because of the area's similarities to parts of Hawaii. Picture / Dean Purcell
Confident of success
The facilities are available for hire with purposes to date including music video shoots, soundtrack recording and cultural performance rehearsals. Additional facilities including office space, a boardroom, mezzanine, kitchen and podcast production sites are due for completion in April. The hub includes the site’s existing cafe and childrens’ playground.
The hub’s first tenant is Crescendo, a commercial studio and social enterprise specialising in sound recording, music production and training. Ford says screen industry tenants have been secured that she can’t reveal yet.
The agency has reason to be confident about the future success of the development. “The creative sector is growing at 5.6% per annum and is worth $8.8b GDP (gross domestic product) to the Auckland economy.
“Film and television production has a strong history in Henderson and you’ve got spinoff businesses from that or businesses that support them. You’ve got the train station and the City Rail Link and better access.”
“Creative industries need a collaborative environment where like-minded people can be together, work together and connect. That needs infrastructure, space where people can have equipment, and a place that attracts international visitors or businesses. We need a creative talent pipeline… to provide education and training.”
Another reason for confidence is that her agency’s already had success creating an innovation precinct — GridAKL in the Wynyard Quarter. That venture has just celebrated its 10th year. But Ford acknowledges it’s not easy building innovation precincts. “They are hard projects to get off the ground. They go through phases. The emergence phase is where we are at the moment.
“It’s like a life cycle (in that) it builds up interest and then that attracts more people. Then you’ll have more people meeting at the cafe. It’s an ecosystem… it will start coming alive, but these things take time.”
Ford says with the land immediately around the creative hub designated by the council for development, the agency wants to help encourage “the right kind of development that supports and reinforces the employment opportunities and the vibrancy we want to create to regenerate Henderson.”
She notes many people that work in the creative industries live in the west. “It’s got this great heritage of being a place for creative people.”
The agency is not deterred by the tough economic climate in which to launch such a project.
“Often recessions are a good time to start these things because you have to do the hard yards and then you’re ready for the upswing. As a council, it’s our role to intervene and get something started, then attract the private sector and philanthropy.
“I think we are really capturing the rise of the creative industries which is so important for Auckland with (the prospect of) export dollars and jobs in a part of Auckland that desperately needs good jobs — and leveraging off that history of Henderson being a creative and film industry area.”
