Hi, I’m Tamsin Cooper and I feel very honoured to have been appointed broker for the inaugural Urban Dream Brokerage Dunedin pilot.
I grew up in the small rural town of Waikouaiti where I was fortunate to have had a wonderfully creative childhood. In fact it was my father and his work that first introduced me at just 8 years old to the idea that art can transform and engage the community. He helped set up The Creative Arts Trust who worked with mentally disabled people, recognising creative expression as a basic human right.
I worked away from Dunedin for many years but have come back in the last few to live with my sons Hugo & Louis and we love it here! There is just so much going on for such a small city, it affords an amazing lifestyle and education, with access to a stunning natural environment and an ever inspiring creative community.
I have had my own fashion label for the past 12 years and during the course of my business have worked on several creative collaborations on a national and international level. Highlights have been working with the Royal New Zealand Ballet on several projects and just last month helping manage the first ever NZ/Vietnam Fashion show and competition for design students in Ho Chi Minh City to mark our 40th Anniversary of bilateral relations. In the past I have worked as Community Arts Advisor and Business Development Advisor for Film & Fashion for Dunedin City, managed Planet Media at Otago University, marketed the International Science Festival and worked as the Youth Coordinator for Dunedin. I am a theatre graduate and have a personal passion for performance, public speaking and TV presenting.
I firmly believe that public art can lift the soul of a city and those that reside within it. I love collaborations and working across disciplines to create the truly extraordinary. I welcome wholeheartedly all the knowledge, talent and experience that the Letting Space team and founders have and hope that I can learn much from them to help broker some fantastic projects for Dunedin.
Submissions are now open for projects starting in 2016.
Please apply on-line at: http://urbandreambrokerage.org.nz/dunedin/