Artworks praised

Two Christchurch City Council arts projects have won praise from Creative New Zealand for their contribution to community wellbeing.

Creative NZ’s Creative Places Awards were announced in Auckland at the Local Government New Zealand conference.

Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu was selected by judges to receive the Built Environment Initiatives award winner for city councils.

The judges say the gallery, which opened in May 2003, is worthy of the city’s “fine and rich architectural heritage” as well as being “strikingly distinctive as it boldly pronounces the new century.

“The City Council and the people of Canterbury invested a great deal in this project — intellectually, emotionally and financially,” the judges say.

The city’s Tribute to Firefighters sculpture was singled out for a special judges’ citation in this category.

The public artwork stands on the north bank of the Avon River on the corner of Madras and Kilmore streets. It was created by sculptor Graham Bennett from twisted steel beams from the former World Trade Center buildings in New York.

Creative NZ (The Arts Council of NZ) says its Creative Places Awards were set up in 1999 to “recognise and celebrate innovative, local authority, arts-based initiatives and their significant contribution to social, economic, environmental and cultural wellbeing”.