CULTURE

On a crisp Christchurch evening at Hotel Montreal, supporters, artists, patrons and advocates gathered for more than a cultural event. They gathered for a glimpse into the next chapter of one of Ōtautahi’s most significant public art organisations.

SCAPE Public Art has long understood something essential about Christchurch. Art does not need to sit quietly behind gallery walls to be meaningful. It can appear in a street, beside a river, within a hotel, above a quad or across a cityscape, asking people to pause, look again and consider the place they call home through a different lens.

For more than two decades, SCAPE has helped shape Christchurch into an open-air gallery. Its work has supported public art, education, artist development and civic imagination, creating a cultural thread that runs through the city and continues to gather strength.

At the recent supporter gathering, newly appointed Managing Curator Aaron Kreisler spoke with a sense of momentum. The foundation has been laid. Now comes the work of further formalising SCAPE’s place within the artistic landscape of Christchurch, while allowing its reach to grow beyond the local and into a wider national and international conversation.

Kreisler brings considerable weight to that moment. A Christchurch-based curator, writer and arts leader, he is Head of Creative and Digital Arts at the University of Canterbury and a former Head of the Ilam School of Fine Arts. He has also worked as a curator at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, producing more than 50 exhibitions. His appointment signals a thoughtful next step for SCAPE: one that respects the organisation’s foundations while considering how public art can continue to speak to a changing city.

Those foundations deserve recognition. Former Executive Director Deborah McCormick was instrumental in building SCAPE into the respected and recognisable organisation it is today. Over 25 years at the helm, McCormick helped take public art out of the margins and into the daily life of Christchurch. Her legacy sits not only in the works themselves, but in the public appetite she helped cultivate: a willingness to engage, question and be surprised by art in shared spaces.

That sense of surprise remains one of SCAPE’s great strengths.

Neil Dawson’s Echo at Te Matatiki Toi Ora The Arts Centre is a perfect example. Suspended above the North Quad, the work has become a favourite for visitors who pose beneath it, creating the playful illusion of holding a house in their hands. It is joyful, clever and deeply Christchurch. More importantly, it proves how public art can invite participation before people even realise they are engaging with it.

Across the city, SCAPE’s presence appears in quiet and unexpected ways. From grand sculptural statements to intimate photographic works, from footprints to ceramics, from urban interventions to hotel-based installations, its influence continues to ripple through Christchurch. A favourite moment for CM was Heather Straka’s striking photographic work at Hotel Montreal, a reminder that contemporary art can be theatrical, unsettling, beautiful and entirely unforgettable.

This is where SCAPE’s true power lies. It does not simply place art in public. It changes the way the public moves through place.

Christchurch is a city still defining itself. It has been rebuilt, reimagined and repeatedly asked to consider what kind of urban and cultural identity it wants to hold. SCAPE has been part of that answer. It has offered the city not decoration, but conversation. Not passive monuments, but works that ask something of the viewer.

For Cantabrian Magazine, the evening at Hotel Montreal felt like a marker. SCAPE is not beginning again. It is building from strength. With Aaron Kreisler’s curatorial leadership, Deborah McCormick’s legacy acknowledged and a community of supporters gathered around it, SCAPE appears ready to move with greater clarity into its next era.

Public art matters because it belongs to everyone. It catches the commuter, the visitor, the child, the collector, the critic and the casual passer-by. It becomes part of how a city remembers itself.

In Christchurch, SCAPE has taught us to look up, look closer and look again.
And that may be its greatest contribution of all.

Kura Tāwhiti – Canterbury Community Foundation’s newly appointed Co-Chair, Colin Mansbridge, steps into the role with a clear mindset: leadership is about service, and impact is something you plan for.

As CEO of the Crusaders, Mansbridge brings a performance-driven lens to the philanthropic space that is grounded not just in results, but in people, culture and long-term thinking. His decision to join the Foundation came naturally, shaped by a shared vision for what community-led impact can become.

“It’s done some good things, and it’s looking to do some great things.” 

For Mansbridge, the opportunity ahead is not about maintaining momentum  it’s about building it with intention. Drawing on his leadership experience, he is unapologetic about ambition.

“You should always plan to win,” he says. “Even in this space.”

But winning, in this context, looks different. It’s not about outcomes at the expense of others — it’s about collective success. A model where generosity, structure and leadership align to create something far greater than individual contribution.

At the core of his philosophy is servant leadership, a belief that organisations perform best when they are built around supporting people first, allowing impact to flow outward into the community.

Looking ahead, Mansbridge sees a Foundation in refinement. Clearer messaging, stronger alignment of causes, and more defined pathways for donors to engage meaningfully.
“We’re in a rebirth phase,” he explains. “And the timing feels right.”

It’s a future that leans into the power of local giving where individuals are empowered to contribute, and where long-term outcomes are prioritised over short-term wins.

For Cantabrian Magazine, this moment signals more than a leadership appointment. It reflects a shift toward intentional, structured philanthropy led with clarity, ambition and purpose.

Because, as Mansbridge puts it:
“There’s real power in bringing people together around a shared purpose. That’s where community strength is built.”

Image courtesy of The Crusaders