Troy Kingi will be playing at the anniversary concert
Troy Kingi will be playing at the anniversary concert
Opinion by Gerry Paul
Gerry Paul is an award-winning songwriter and musician who has performed at over 500 festivals across 40 countries, sharing the stage with some of the biggest names in folk music. Formerly the Festival Director of CubaDupa in Wellington, Gerry has been the General Manager of the Turner Centre in Kerikeri since moving there three years ago.
As I sit in the Turner Centre auditorium planning for its 20th anniversary celebration on August 2, I’m reflecting on what this place has come to mean to our community.
Twenty years ago, when Helen Clark officially opened these doors, we had high hopes but couldn’t have predicted thejourney ahead.
The story of this place never gets old.
In the 1980s, Doug Turner and John Dalton were volunteers at the old Kerikeri Memorial Hall, but they envisioned something more substantial.
They saw the need for a purpose-built cultural facility that could serve our growing Far North community.
What started as conversations between two committed locals became Operation Spotlight – a six-year fundraising campaign that raised $7.5 million through community effort.
The 200 local contractors and tradespeople who brought architect Martyn Evans’ design to life created something lasting.
That distinctive roofline, the 400-plus seat auditorium: the workers built a facility that would cost more than $100m today. The $20m investment the community and funders made was significant, but the returns have been substantial.
Then Prime Minister Helen Clark with Kerikeri Civic Trust chairman Doug Turner, outside the new $7.5 million entertainment and event centre in August 2005. The venue is named The Turner Centre in his honour. Turner died in 2024.
Since opening, the centre has hosted more than 4000 performances, workshops, exhibitions, meetings and community events.
It is home to more than 35 community groups who access discounted venue hire subsidised by commercial bookings.
Last year, we were able to offer 10,000 free or pay-what-you-can tickets for 42 events – including 5000 for tamariki and rangatahi throughout the Far North.
A scene from the Sound of Music, as performed by Kerikeri Theatre Company at the Turner Centre in 2021.
Our anniversary concert is really a celebration of the incredible creative talent we have in Kerikeri and the Far North. Troy Kingi brings his unmistakable songwriting and considerable mana to the evening.
Kerikeri Theatre Company will present an entertaining and specially written radio play, and actor Willi Henley will perform a piece by Rowan Atkinson.
The Bay of Islands Singers – our 60-strong mixed-voice community choir who rehearse here every Monday – will perform several pieces including Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah.
Bandwidth Riot - Smokefree Rockquest Far North winners; Luke Lawler, Jack Laird (front), Alistor Fairhurst, Freddy Jarman
Merv Pinny, who has built a global following while remaining thoroughly local, will perform. His songs have achieved over 30 million streams across platforms.
We’re also excited to showcase the talent of the future with Bandwidth Riot, the youth band who won the Smokefree Rockquest Far North finals.
Their performance represents the emerging creative energy in our community and a group of rangatahi who have come through the Be Free music mentoring programme that happens every Tuesday afternoon at the Turner Centre.
Ngāti Rēhia Community Kapa Haka Group will present work from their eight-week kapa haka programme, held at the centre and led by Rawi Pere.
Kerikeri songwriter Taylah Barker of Fly My Pretties will join these local acts on our stage and help us mark 20 years of the Turner Centre’s contribution to our community.
This programming approach reflects our strategic vision – developed in consultation with our community and guided by Ngāti Rēhia – “Te Ranga Toi Waka”: to be the waka that weaves together the arts for our community. Doug Turner and John Dalton’s vision of a purpose-built cultural facility has evolved into something more comprehensive – a hub for Far North creativity and community connection.
Gerry Paul has been the General Manager of the Turner Centre in Kerikeri since moving there three years ago.
We’re celebrating two decades of supporting local talent, of programming that connects people across cultures and generations, of arts experiences that matter.
This is what happens when a community invests in cultural infrastructure and programming. This venue continues to serve its purpose, adapting and growing with the community it represents.
American singer, Kerikeri resident, and president of the Kerikeri Theatre Company, John Oszajca, will perform an original song infused with his distinctive Americana flavour.
I’ll be taking the stage myself alongside Dusty Burnell. We’re two-fifths of T-Bone, and there’s something fitting about Burnell being part of this celebration – he remembers fundraising as a teenager at Okaihau College in the early 2000s, when this dream was still taking shape.
