Jan Bieringa, Sophie Jerram, Linda Lee and Jason Muir with 'Exquisite Kaitiaki' by Miriama Grace-Smith, Xoe Hall and Gina Kiel at Urban Dream Brokerage and Brokered Dreams book launch, 2/57, Wellington. Image: Ebony Lamb
Wellington communities need more creative and public spaces as inner city population booms and housing crisis puts rental stress on the young and vulnerable
Covid-19 and economic recession leaves empty shops and buildings empty in Wellington
Urban Dream Brokerage programme will resume connecting artists with owners of unoccupied property
Applications for artists to run projects are now open online www.urbanddreambrokerage.org.nz
Ariki Bloomwell presenting welcoming karakia. Image: Ebony Lamb
As the residential property market escalates, and as increasing numbers move into city apartments, a need for inner city spaces for exchange and community is growing. With significant growth in commercial property left vacant since Covid-19 hit, the programme Urban Dream Brokerage is relaunching in Wellington to provide vital spaces for people to exchange, meet and help the city develop.
Following its first run between 2012 and 2018 in response to the Global Financial Crisis, creative space programme Urban Dream Brokerage (UDB) has been relaunched funded by the Wellington City Council Tipu Toa: Build Back Better / City Recovery fund.
Image: Ebony Lamb
The relaunch is spurred by a rise in unoccupied property around Wellington city due to the pandemic, and the need to create shared public spaces and experiences in a central city whose population is growing fast. The programme continues to run in Dunedin and has previously run in Porirua and Masterton.
After the 2016 Kaikōura earthquake many buildings were taken off the Wellington market for strengthening, meaning fewer spaces could be used. Now property owners are embracing the renewed opportunity to enrich the city with artist and community occupied spaces.
“We have a commitment to a city that feels good for the most vulnerable and gives space to the most generous. We see ourselves as intentionally curating projects that will provoke change, for example decarbonising and indigenising the city,” says UDB co-founder Sophie Jerram.
Victoria Singh from The Waiting Room Image: Ebony Lamb
“Other cities across the world including Brussels and Barcelona are taxing buildings that are vacant for more than three months, providing incentives to keep buildings occupied, something that could work well when property is surging in value.”
The aim of the brokerage is not just to help restore the city to pre-pandemic levels and types of activity, but to help create a new and better place where art acts as a bridge that welcomes all comers.
UDB co-founder Mark Amery makes a case for culture providing a vital sense of place and meaning for city dwellers that leads to economic development. “A cultural recovery in Wellington is more than about attracting visitors through events. Culture is fundamental to our wellbeing and a sense of ownership of the city for those who live here. And we also invest financially where we feel a sense of belonging.”
Mark Amery and Helen Kirlew Smith. Image: Ebony Lamb
A book of past projects Brokered Dreams: 98 Uses For Vacant Space has just been launched. “We also need to test new models of living space as we face environmental and social crises. Artists and community groups are leading the way,” says Amery.
Brokered Dreams: 98 Uses for Vacant Space. Image: Ebony Lamb
Wellington City Council is supporting the brokerage to re-enliven the city in 2021 with activities, including support for the performance programme The City as a Theatre and a rejuvenated Cubadupa. UDB is produced by Maverick Creative, managed by dynamic Political Cutz performer Jason Muir with Linda Lee from Shared Lines Collaborative. Muir is already visiting property owners to find homes for projects. “UDB rules! My creative practice emerged from Urban Dream Brokerage so now I feel proud to manage the project and look forward to enabling others on their journey, to share their dreams with the people of Wellington,” says Muir.
Urban Dream Brokerage was established in 2012 by Sophie Jerram and Mark Amery as part of their Letting Space entity under the umbrella of Wellington Independent Arts Trust. UDB found spaces around New Zealand for over 120 creative projects, some short and some long term with more than 40 property owners, allowing the artists’ work to infuse energy into the properties while new tenants were found. Some projects continue in the properties where they started - Come Sew With Me in Masterton’s Queen Elizabeth Park is celebrating this month its third anniversary, while others like Coliberate a ‘mental health gym’ are now successful innovative businesses.
Brokered Dreams: 98 Uses for Vacant Space - the book is available at www.urbandreambrokerage.org.nz/book or at Unity Bookshop Wellington.
Evzen Novak, Thomas Lahood, Darcy Case Laurie Foon, Suzanne Tamaki and Gerry Paul during karakia. Image: Ebony Lamb
Sam Trubridge. Image: Ebony Lamb
Crowd at two/fiftyseven. Image: Ebony Lamb
Image: Ebony Lamb