Mairangi Arts Centre (MAC) was initiated several years after a group of East Coast Bays residents saw the need for an arts centre in their area. Opened in May 1991, after more than ten years of fundraising, the main gallery, café and office area are housed in the old Mairangi War Memorial Hall (opened 1953). The building ,once used as the headquarters for a local soccer club, after extensive refurbishment, was transformed into a light and spacious environment.
Much of the work that has gone into the establishment of the Centre has been voluntary. Although we now employ professional staff, volunteer workers remain a vital and integral part of the organisation. The Centre is administered by a Trust Board, and has a growing membership.
The Centre runs a large number of art classes. The annual Education Programme is divided into four terms, with special children’s holiday programmes during most school breaks. Top artists and tutors are employed to teach day and evening courses in our well equipped studios. MAC also provides after-school classes for children and young adults, covering a wide variety of art and craft subjects. Classes are 2 or 3 hours in length and generally run for eight weeks. The Centre also holds weekend workshops - ‘one off’ intensive art classes that take place on one or both days of the weekend. A comprehensive Education Programme, available before each term, gives details of current classes, prices and tutors.
Up to 18 exhibitions take place in the main gallery from February to December each year. The exhibitions vary considerably in theme and content and feature work by artists from throughout New Zealand. MAC attempts to include as many local artists as possible. Art Clubs and organisations such as schools, photographic societies and craft guilds also contribute to exhibitions held at the Centre. MAC holds an annual Members’ Exhibition (unselected) which allows current members of the Centre to show their work in the main gallery, as well as a Student Showcase, in which adults and children enrolled in the Centre’s Education Programme are able to exhibit artwork they have produced during classes. The Mairangi Arts Centre is also proud to host the North Shore City Art Awards which were inaugurated in November 1995 with sponsored prizes worth $6000. The Awards are open to all New Zealanders and celebrate New Zealand’s Cultural Diversity.
