Two decades of inspiring arts and community connections in Kerikeri
The 200 local contractors and tradespeople who brought architect Martyn Evans' design to life created something lasting.
That distinctive roofline, the 400-plus seat auditorium: the workers built a facility that would cost more than $100m today. The $20m investment the community and funders made was significant, but the returns have been substantial.
Then Prime Minister Helen Clark with Kerikeri Civic Trust chairman Doug Turner, outside the new $7.5 million entertainment and event centre in August 2005. The venue is named The Turner Centre in his honour. Turner died in 2024.
Since opening, the centre has hosted more than 4000 performances, workshops, exhibitions, meetings and community events.
It is home to more than 35 community groups who access discounted venue hire subsidised by commercial bookings.
Last year, we were able to offer 10,000 free or pay-what-you-can tickets for 42 events – including 5000 for tamariki and rangatahi throughout the Far North.
A scene from the Sound of Music, as performed by Kerikeri Theatre Company at the Turner Centre in 2021.
Our anniversary concert is really a celebration of the incredible creative talent we have in Kerikeri and the Far North. Troy Kingi brings his unmistakable songwriting and considerable mana to the evening.
Kerikeri Theatre Company will present an entertaining and specially written radio play, and actor Willi Henley will perform a piece by Rowan Atkinson.
The Bay of Islands Singers – our 60-strong mixed-voice community choir who rehearse here every Monday – will perform several pieces including Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.
Bandwidth Riot - Smokefree Rockquest Far North winners; Luke Lawler, Jack Laird (front), Alistor Fairhurst, Freddy Jarman
Merv Pinny, who has built a global following while remaining thoroughly local, will perform. His songs have achieved over 30 million streams across platforms.
We're also excited to showcase the talent of the future with Bandwidth Riot, the youth band who won the Smokefree Rockquest Far North finals.
Their performance represents the emerging creative energy in our community and a group of rangatahi who have come through the Be Free music mentoring programme that happens every Tuesday afternoon at the Turner Centre.
Ngāti Rēhia Community Kapa Haka Group will present work from their eight-week kapa haka programme, held at the centre and led by Rawi Pere.
Kerikeri songwriter Taylah Barker of Fly My Pretties will join these local acts on our stage and help us mark 20 years of the Turner Centre's contribution to our community.
This programming approach reflects our strategic vision – developed in consultation with our community and guided by Ngāti Rēhia – 'Te Ranga Toi Waka': to be the waka that weaves together the arts for our community. Doug Turner and John Dalton's vision of a purpose-built cultural facility has evolved into something more comprehensive – a hub for Far North creativity and community connection.
Gerry Paul has been the General Manager of the Turner Centre in Kerikeri since moving there three years ago.
We're celebrating two decades of supporting local talent, of programming that connects people across cultures and generations, of arts experiences that matter.
This is what happens when a community invests in cultural infrastructure and programming. This venue continues to serve its purpose, adapting and growing with the community it represents.
American singer, Kerikeri resident, and president of the Kerikeri Theatre Company, John Oszajca, will perform an original song infused with his distinctive Americana flavour.
I'll be taking the stage myself alongside Dusty Burnell. We're two-fifths of T-Bone, and there's something fitting about Burnell being part of this celebration – he remembers fundraising as a teenager at Okaihau College in the early 2000s, when this dream was still taking shape.
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NZ Herald
6 days ago
- NZ Herald
Kerikeri's world-class events facility, the Turner Centre, turns 20
'I remember driving into Kerikeri, what I thought was a reasonably small town, and seeing this massive events centre. And I was like, 'Wow, these guys are lucky'. Little did I know a few years later I'd be up here running the place. Careful what you wish for, eh?' While that initial surprise may have worn off after three years in the job – following a stint running Wellington's popular CubaDupa festival – Paul said he still found it remarkable. 'For a town under 10,000 people, to have a 400-seat theatre and an event centre that can accommodate 1000 people is just amazing. It's probably one of the very few towns around the world that [has] a facility of this size for the population.' With the Turner Centre widely regarded as the best performing arts venue north of Auckland, many touring groups bypassed Whangārei and headed straight for little Kerikeri instead. 'It's meant that we've had access to performances that you would never otherwise get in a small town. The capability of the stage and the capacity of the fly tower and the rigging system means we can bring up the likes of the Royal New Zealand Ballet or the [New Zealand] Symphony Orchestra.' The Kerikeri-based Northern Dance Academy perform The Nutcracker in 2015. Photo / Peter de Graaf The other thing that made the Turner Centre unusual was that it was planned and paid for by locals, not by the council or Government. 'That's a big part of the Turner Centre story. The whole building was built and fundraised by the community. So there's a real investment in the place, and that's why we see it so well attended.' The dream began in the 1970s when arts enthusiasts John Dalton and Doug Turner were putting on shows in the Memorial Hall, a possum-infested former fruit-packing shed. As the population and interest in the arts grew in the 1980s, they decided something bigger and better was needed. Doug Turner in 2011. Photo / Peter de Graaf Aided by fellow volunteers, they spent the next two decades planning, lobbying, cajoling and fundraising. What was initially known as The Centre at Kerikeri was opened on August 5, 2005, by Prime Minister at the time, Helen Clark. Its bold design, by local architect Martyn Evans, included a distinctive swooping roof to create space for stage machinery. The roof also gave the centre its early nickname, 'the ski ramp'. John Dalton died in 2012, followed by Doug Turner just late last year. The venue was renamed the Turner Centre in 2011; the main auditorium had already been named after Dalton. The centre's distinctive roof led to its nickname, "the ski ramp". Photo / Peter de Graaf, RNZ Turner's daughter, Susan Corbett, said her father would have loved to see this weekend's 20th anniversary show. 'He would have thought it was absolutely wonderful. And he'd be very pleased to see that everything that he and John dreamt about all those years ago has come to fruition, and is still happening – and in very exciting ways with Gerry keeping things moving on.' Corbett said her parents owned Kerikeri's Cathay Cinema for 35 years. They would host art exhibitions and plays at the cinema before joining Dalton organising shows in the Memorial Hall. Corbett said their legacy showed the value of dreaming big. 'Why not dream big? And it's just as well they did, because we probably wouldn't be able to afford it today. Their dream has happened, and the community has got this wonderful asset because of it.' A scene from Kerikeri Theatre Company's The Sound of Music in 2021. Photo / Peter de Graaf In total, building the two stages of the Turner Centre – The Plaza event centre was completed in 2012 – cost around $20 million. Gerry Paul said a commercial building expert had told him building the same venue today would cost more than $100m. Operating a large venue in a small town was not without its problems, however. In 2024, with rising maintenance costs and the after-effects of the Covid pandemic threatening to overwhelm the Kerikeri Civic Trust, the Far North District Council took over ownership of the building. The trust was still responsible for equipment, staff and programming. In the past year, Paul said the centre had been used by 43,000 people, had 558 bookings and given away 5000 free event tickets to youth. A shift since 2022 towards greater inclusion had included a series of 'pay what you can' events and initiatives such as community kapa haka. Bay of Islands College cultural group Te Roopu o Pewhairangi perform at the Turner Centre's 10th anniversary celebration in 2015. Photo / Peter de Graaf John Oszajca, a US-born actor and singer-songwriter who now lived in Kerikeri, said the town was 'incredible lucky' to have a venue like the Turner Centre. Now the president of Kerikeri Theatre Company, Oszajca said he had performed at the centre as a musician and actor, as well as bringing plays to life on the stage. One of his personal highlights was co-producing the musical Little Shop of Horrors in 2024. He said the venue had become a second home to him. 'I think having high-calibre performing arts, which you couldn't have without a venue like this, makes the quality of life notably better. It's one thing to live in a beautiful town. It's another thing to live in a beautiful town that has amenities, and it's another thing again to live in a town that offers inspiration to the people that live there, both as artists and as patrons.' The centre had also served as a springboard for young performers who had gone on to forge careers in the arts. One of those hoping to follow in their footsteps is 17-year-old Jack Laird, a Year 13 student at Kerikeri High. Laird had just played the part of Scuttle the Seagull in The Little Mermaid; this Saturday he would be one of more than 100 performers taking part in the centre's 20th anniversary show. On this occasion he would be playing drums for hard rock band Bandwidth Riot, winners of the recent Far North Smokefreerockquest. Having a venue like the Turner Centre meant a lot to Kerikeri youth, he said. 'It's so nice to have that venue, that outlet, to be creative and just give us a voice. I don't know what we'd do without the Turner Centre.' Also performing in Saturday night's anniversary show would be the Bay of Islands Singers, Kerikeri Theatre Company, Taylah Barker from Fly My Pretties, a duo from Americana folk band T Bone, local rocker Merv Pinny and Ngāti Rehia Community Kapa Haka, with local legend Troy Kingi the headline act. - RNZ
NZ Herald
11-07-2025
- NZ Herald
Two decades of inspiring arts and community connections in Kerikeri
What started as conversations between two committed locals became Operation Spotlight – a six-year fundraising campaign that raised $7.5 million through community effort. The 200 local contractors and tradespeople who brought architect Martyn Evans' design to life created something lasting. That distinctive roofline, the 400-plus seat auditorium: the workers built a facility that would cost more than $100m today. The $20m investment the community and funders made was significant, but the returns have been substantial. Then Prime Minister Helen Clark with Kerikeri Civic Trust chairman Doug Turner, outside the new $7.5 million entertainment and event centre in August 2005. The venue is named The Turner Centre in his honour. Turner died in 2024. Since opening, the centre has hosted more than 4000 performances, workshops, exhibitions, meetings and community events. It is home to more than 35 community groups who access discounted venue hire subsidised by commercial bookings. Last year, we were able to offer 10,000 free or pay-what-you-can tickets for 42 events – including 5000 for tamariki and rangatahi throughout the Far North. A scene from the Sound of Music, as performed by Kerikeri Theatre Company at the Turner Centre in 2021. Our anniversary concert is really a celebration of the incredible creative talent we have in Kerikeri and the Far North. Troy Kingi brings his unmistakable songwriting and considerable mana to the evening. Kerikeri Theatre Company will present an entertaining and specially written radio play, and actor Willi Henley will perform a piece by Rowan Atkinson. The Bay of Islands Singers – our 60-strong mixed-voice community choir who rehearse here every Monday – will perform several pieces including Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. Bandwidth Riot - Smokefree Rockquest Far North winners; Luke Lawler, Jack Laird (front), Alistor Fairhurst, Freddy Jarman Merv Pinny, who has built a global following while remaining thoroughly local, will perform. His songs have achieved over 30 million streams across platforms. We're also excited to showcase the talent of the future with Bandwidth Riot, the youth band who won the Smokefree Rockquest Far North finals. Their performance represents the emerging creative energy in our community and a group of rangatahi who have come through the Be Free music mentoring programme that happens every Tuesday afternoon at the Turner Centre. Ngāti Rēhia Community Kapa Haka Group will present work from their eight-week kapa haka programme, held at the centre and led by Rawi Pere. Kerikeri songwriter Taylah Barker of Fly My Pretties will join these local acts on our stage and help us mark 20 years of the Turner Centre's contribution to our community. This programming approach reflects our strategic vision – developed in consultation with our community and guided by Ngāti Rēhia – 'Te Ranga Toi Waka': to be the waka that weaves together the arts for our community. Doug Turner and John Dalton's vision of a purpose-built cultural facility has evolved into something more comprehensive – a hub for Far North creativity and community connection. Gerry Paul has been the General Manager of the Turner Centre in Kerikeri since moving there three years ago. We're celebrating two decades of supporting local talent, of programming that connects people across cultures and generations, of arts experiences that matter. This is what happens when a community invests in cultural infrastructure and programming. This venue continues to serve its purpose, adapting and growing with the community it represents. American singer, Kerikeri resident, and president of the Kerikeri Theatre Company, John Oszajca, will perform an original song infused with his distinctive Americana flavour. I'll be taking the stage myself alongside Dusty Burnell. We're two-fifths of T-Bone, and there's something fitting about Burnell being part of this celebration – he remembers fundraising as a teenager at Okaihau College in the early 2000s, when this dream was still taking shape.
Otago Daily Times
22-04-2025
- Otago Daily Times
Canterbury's own 'Vera Lynn' returns home
By Dellwyn Moylan Music has always featured in former Ashburton-lass Jan-Maree Baughen's life - and she is returning to the town to put her talents on show. She is performing with the 3Decibelles in an Anzac tribute at the Ashburton Event Centre on April 24. It is a fundraising performance for the Ashburton Event Centre. Baughen (nee Armitage) grew up in Ashburton and went to Ashburton College where she was active in the performing theatre scene with the Ashburton Operatic Society (now Variety Theatre), Tinwald Musical Society, Ashburton Repertory Theatre and the Ashburton Musical Club. She will appear alongside her 16-year-old daughter, Chloe and friend Lizzie Howarth. ''It's such an honour and delight to be invited back to my hometown alongside my daughter and fabulous friend Lizzie to perform our Anzac tribute concert,'' she said. ''I had always wanted to produce a close harmony trio as I had grown up with dad playing all the beautiful old time dance music include music by Glenn Miller, dad's favourite the Andrew Sisters, Vera Lynn, and others,'' she said. ''Lizzie and I shared the same passion for the music of the 1920-1940s having grown up on that style of music. 3Decibelles formed in 2021. ''This will be a musical reflection and commemoration to honour our brave serviceman both past and present who have fought for our wonderful country. ''The show will also include our wonderful Chloe and her dancing tap shoes,'' Baughen said. Chloe, in year 12 at high school, is the choreographer and lead dancer, and like her mother has been involved in musicals, including as Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. Baughen attributes her talents to parents, Pam and the late Arnold, who passed on their love of music to her. Pam was a singer and Arnold tinkled the ivories on the piano. She said her first foray into performing was as a four-year-old with Charmaine Quaid's ballet school (now known as Dance Worx Ashburton). At eight she took up singing lessons firstly in Ashburton before going to Christchurch for lessons where she later gained her LTCL and ATCL with distinctions. Baughen said the first musical she appeared in was as a nine-year-old in the Sound of Music where she played Marta VonTrapp, this was followed by Annie, Jesus Christ Super Star, Oliver and Good Evening Friends with Ashburton Operatic. Along with these productions she was also in three Ashburton College musicals. Her career and in fact her life nearly came to an end in her last year of college with a serious motor accident. She spent three months in Christchurch Hospital. 'I had a near fatal motor accident. I spent three months in Christchurch Hospital with multiple fractures and injuries,'' she said. 'I had to learn to walk and sing again. With love and support of wonderful friends, family and music teachers I built up the strength in my voice again. I went on to win the Ashburton Music Club's first scholarship in 1991,' Baughen said. She regularly performed at weddings, clubs and functions before moving to Christchurch when she was 18-years-old to undertake nursing studies. While living there she became a member of Canterbury Opera, ShowBiz Christchurch and 'The Kilmarnock Edition'. Following the Canterbury earthquake in February 2011 Baughen, husband Barry and their children, Nicholas and Chloe, moved to Auckland. Today Baughen is kept busy as an appearance medicine nurse, private vocal tutor/ director and musical director of 3Decibelles. Tickets are on sale now for the two performances of 'Watchcha Gonna Swing' on April 24 at the Ashburton Event Centre.
