They say you shouldn’t overlook what’s in your own backyard.  And especially when that backyard happens to be a veritable treasure trove.  We recently had the chance to check out Devonport’s Depot Artspace which is less than five minutes’ walk away from us in Clarence Street.  Art and music space manager Lynn Lawton and his staff threw open their doors to welcome local businesses over Friday night drinks, including Devonport Chocolates, Kevin Johnson Boat Builders and Think Red.  

 

Sure, the Depot Artspace is a legendary space to display art and a hub to showcase a wealth of talent, but really, it’s much more than that.  Established 20 years ago, it’s a multi-disciplinary creative community encompassing all art forms and supporting artists at many different levels and across all generations.  Facilities include galleries, a professional development programme, publications, a design studio and recording studio.  In fact, the studio has been host to the Hamilton County BlueGrass Band the past few weekends as they’ve recorded songs for a new album.  And it was a real family affair – the Depot’s sound engineer, Dave Rhodes is the son of the HCBB founding member Alan Rhodes and had always wanted to record an album for the band.  Other bands to work with the Depot include Lakes, Rebel Sound Radio, Annee 2CU, Ulcerate, Tablefox, Streetlight Riot and Nic Hurman.

 

There’s also a thriving and immensely talented media production team based at the Depot.  Media producer Amelia Harris is currently working with NZ Sculpture Onshore to create,  produce and curate all the video imagery for the event and is also working on the Cultural Icons series.  In fact, she can turn her hand to anything!

 
Contact the folks at the hub if you want to find out more about what they offer, and how you can work with them.