My Account
Ever since a former National government slashed funding for community education 14 years ago, opportunities for adults to learn a new skill have been pretty limited locally.
The 2009 budget decision effectively put an end to evening classes at most colleges, including Mahurangi, and the number of high schools offering adult education plummeted from 212 then to just 17 now, the closest of which are on the North Shore or near Whangarei.
While there are other organisations running courses and classes, such as Women’s Centre Rodney and U3A (University of the Third Age) in Warkworth, as well as individuals offering private tuition, general educational offerings open to all remain scarce.
All of which probably accounts for why Creative Matakana, a week-long programme of up to 20 arts-themed workshops and courses run each May, has proven to be a huge hit with local residents since it was launched in 2017.
Founder Jo Connor, a former physiotherapist and garden tour organiser who lives in central Auckland, was aiming at a broader audience when she first came up with the idea to replicate a northern version of Wanaka’s Autumn Art School. However, six years in, and 87% of Creative Matakana attendees live locally.
“I had an idea about offering a week of art-focused classes, similar to what was being held in Wanaka every autumn and then I thought, where would be a good place to hold it?” she says. “I thought of Matakana because of its close proximity to Auckland and I figured there would be a community receptive to learning about the arts.
“I had a friend who was looking for a house in the area who had business experience, Vivienne Kerr, so I teamed up with her. And I’m a friend of Christine Didsbury, who was supportive of the idea and offered to hold the first meeting.”
With no single venue suitable for the range of workshops being offered, which from the outset covered every conceivable type of art and craft, Connor tapped into local knowledge to find people willing to host a course in their homes, gardens and sheds, as well as local halls and community venues. She also brought local writer Kathy Hunter on board to help with establishing an effective website, social media and marketing.
But Connor’s real genius has been in the range and scope of classes that have been offered, not to mention finding the experts willing and able to teach them. “Art-focused” doesn’t begin to cover the diversity of what attendees have been able to try over the ensuing years – knife-making, sculpture, printing, carving, glass etching, metal casting, willow weaving, art and writing of every kind, even making a wooden Windsor chair from scratch.
She makes light of what it takes to find people with the breadth of expertise required to offer such a wide range of courses and activities every year.
“I keep my eyes open,” she says. “I find tutors by networking and have some people from the local area as well. I go round and meet them and assess whether they’ll fit in with what we’re wanting to do.”
Charges range from $550 for a full-time, five-day course to $45 for an evening lecture, with pricing set to cover fees and expenses, rather than make money.
“We’re a not-for-profit, we really just function,” Connor says. “We’re not putting prices up just because we can.”
Although now approaching 80, she shows no signs of slowing down. As well as continuing as prime mover for Creative Matakana, Connor is busy developing new games, such as Botanical Bingo and Bag A Hut.
“We have wonderful helpers. I’m going to have a hard job letting go, but while I can still do it, I will,” she says.
Bookings for Creative Matakana 2023 opened last week. Info and tickets: https://www.creativematakana.nz
