CULTURE

One Kiwi. One tiny yacht. A world of competition. At an age when many are contemplating slowing down, Canterbury's Rod McKenzie is preparing to represent New Zealand on the international stage, proving that adventure has no age limit and dreams are always worth chasing.

From the shores of Lake Pegasus to the waters of South Africa, Rod McKenzie is about to embark on a remarkable sporting adventure. Approaching his 80th birthday, with just five years of yacht-racing experience behind him, the Commodore of Pegasus Radio Sailing Club is heading to the 2026 DF95 Global Championship as New Zealand's sole representative. It is a journey built on determination, months of preparation and a rather wonderful dose of Kiwi spirit.

The competition takes place from 16 to 23 October at Theewaterskloof Dam, approximately 90 minutes east of Cape Town. Against a spectacular South African landscape, an international fleet of up to 80 competitors will race their DragonFlite 95 yachts, each measuring just 95 centimetres in length. Rod expects sailors from 15 countries, making this an extraordinary opportunity for a Canterbury local to fly the New Zealand flag.

For those unfamiliar with radio sailing, these miniature yachts are anything but toys. Controlled remotely from the shoreline, the boats demand an understanding of wind, precision, tactics and split-second decision-making. The skipper may have both feet firmly on dry land, although the competitive spirit is every bit as serious as that of full-sized yacht racing.

What makes Rod's story particularly special is how recently it all began. He has only been racing yachts of any kind for five years, yet here he is, ready to take on experienced international sailors at one of the sport's most significant championships. During a recent conversation with Cantabrian Magazine, Rod was refreshingly matter-of-fact about the challenge ahead. There was no grandstanding or talk of medals, simply an unmistakable sense of pride in having the opportunity to represent New Zealand.

The story first came to CM through Rod's son, Cameron McKenzie, a familiar and wonderfully sociable Christchurch personality who is enormously proud of his father's achievements. Cameron shared just how much work has gone into this journey. For months, Rod has been planning, preparing and practising, determined to arrive in South Africa ready for whatever the international competition may bring.

It is also an entirely self-funded adventure. Rod has organised the trip himself, right down to creating his own logo. His luggage will be considerably larger than the dimensions of his yacht might suggest, with the boat, equipment and replacement components all needing to make the journey. When competing thousands of kilometres from home, a technical failure is not something one wants to leave to chance.

The championship itself is no leisurely afternoon on the lake. Registration, equipment checks and practice precede three days of qualifying races, followed by two days of finals. It is a demanding schedule requiring consistency, concentration and confidence against some of the world's most accomplished DF95 sailors.

Back home, Rod is already a dedicated contributor to the sport as Commodore of Pegasus Radio Sailing Club, based at Lake Pegasus in North Canterbury. The club brings together people who share a passion for sailing, friendly competition and the pleasure of being on the water. Now its Commodore is taking that enthusiasm halfway around the world, carrying not only his own ambitions but the encouragement of his club, family and supporters.

Perhaps the most appealing part of this story is that Rod does not appear particularly interested in being considered an inspiration. He simply loves what he does, has put in the work and is excited to see how far that passion can take him. That quiet determination is exactly what makes his journey so compelling.

With the event expected to be livestreamed and shared on YouTube, supporters back in Canterbury should have the opportunity to follow the racing and cheer on New Zealand's lone skipper from afar.

At Cantabrian Magazine, we celebrate the people who give Canterbury its character, and Rod McKenzie is certainly one of them. His story is a timely reminder that opportunity does not come with an expiry date, nor does ambition need to diminish with age.

There is something distinctly Kiwi about travelling across the world at your own expense, proudly carrying your flag, with a suitcase full of spare parts and the belief that you deserve your place on the starting line.

Tiny boat. Big dreams. An enormous amount of heart.

From all of us at Cantabrian Magazine, fair winds and good luck, Rod. Canterbury is behind you, and whatever happens on the water, you have already given us something worth celebrating.

Follow the 2026 DF95 Global Championship at www.df95racing.com and learn more about Pegasus Radio Sailing Club at www.prsc.nz.

Hummingbird Coffee is putting creativity into the everyday, pairing the work of Christchurch artist Nathan Ingram with locally made ceramics and a wider commitment to backing the arts across Aotearoa. For CM, it is a reminder that cultural awareness can begin before breakfast.

There is something rather good about beginning the day with art. Not necessarily the gallery kind, although Cantabrian Magazine will always champion that, too. This is art that sits on the kitchen bench, is held between both hands and becomes part of the small rituals that set the tone for everything that follows.

When Brown Bread recently arrived at CM with a Hummingbird Coffee package emblazoned with IT’S GIVING ART, they were not exaggerating.

Inside were  packs of coffee and two limited edition hand thrown tumblers by Ōhinehou Lyttelton potter Coralie Winn. CM model Kelly was on site to receive the delivery, although the real star was the idea behind it all.

Hummingbird’s new coffee packs feature Signal-1 by Christchurch artist Nathan Ingram, taking a work conceived on an urban scale and placing it directly into homes around Aotearoa.

Originally commissioned by Christchurch City Council in 2024, Signal-1 transformed a 200 square metre urban site through Ingram’s distinctive language of geometry, movement and colour. His public practice is centred on changing the way people experience shared spaces, making the transition from city surface to coffee packaging surprisingly appropriate.

It is art removed from the expectation that it must be approached formally. You can encounter it half awake, while waiting for the kettle.

Art You Can Hold

The ceramic element makes the collaboration feel particularly resolved.

Artist Coralie Winn works from Ōhinehou Lyttelton, producing domestic ceramics intended to be used rather than simply admired. Her practice explores New Zealand clays, firing, ash glazes and a strong sense of place, with an underlying belief that beauty finds its fullest expression when joined with utility. That philosophy feels almost made for the morning coffee.

A handmade tumbler carries the marks of its maker. Ingram’s artwork brings colour and movement to the pack beside it. Hummingbird supplies the coffee. Individually each element works. Together they become a small daily composition.

This is where the initiative becomes more interesting than clever packaging.

A Christchurch Story With History

Hummingbird’s relationship with creativity is tied closely to its relationship with Christchurch.

The roaster began in Ōtautahi and was among the early New Zealand coffee companies to import Fair Trade Organic coffee. Following the 2011 earthquakes, Hummingbird opened a café within the Re:START container mall and created a Re:START blend, with part of the proceeds supporting the rebuild of The Court Theatre. 

Fifteen years later, that connection between coffee, place and culture has developed into something national.

In 2026 Hummingbird became a principal partner of The Arts Foundation Te Tumu Toi, an organisation established to support and champion artists across Aotearoa. The partnership also includes Hummingbird funding a dedicated Springboard Award for an emerging Ōtautahi artist. This year that support went to Christchurch based artist and designer Steven Junil Park, whose award includes funding and mentorship designed to help build a sustainable artistic career. 

Supporting the arts is easy to talk about. Sustaining artists requires investment, visibility and opportunities for their work to reach people beyond traditional creative spaces.

A coffee pack may seem like a small canvas, yet perhaps that is precisely the point.

Start the Day Artfully

Culture is not reserved for opening nights, collectors or those already fluent in the art world.

It lives in architecture, fashion, music, food, public space and the objects chosen for home. It can sit beside the toaster. It can be poured into a hand thrown cup.

Hummingbird, Nathan Ingram and Coralie Winn have created a pairing that makes art feel wonderfully normal without making it any less valuable.

For Cantabrian Magazine, it represents the kind of Christchurch story worth telling. Established local enterprise looking forward, contemporary artists being placed firmly in view, and everyday objects carrying considerably more meaning than their function alone.

Start the coffee. Hold the art. Then get on with the day.

Below: Artist Nathan Ingram 

A new generation of Canterbury women is proving that philanthropy is not defined by individual wealth. It is defined by generosity, connection and what becomes possible when women choose to give together.

There is something immensely powerful about women deciding that they can make life better for someone else. Not someday, or when circumstances are perfect, but now. That is the heart of Impact100 Canterbury, a growing collective of local women pooling their generosity to create meaningful change across our region.

In its first year, the group raised more than $32,000. Its inaugural major grant of $27,000 was awarded to Hoa Motuhake Sports Trust, allowing 33 young people to come off its waiting list and access Te Pou o Te Whare, a programme providing tamariki in care with long term support through community sport, mentoring and meaningful relationships. The funding will also provide more than 3,000 additional hours of trauma informed coaching and mentoring over the next two years.

Hoa Motuhake founder Sandy Van Heyningen described the support as “truly life-changing for the young people we work with,” thanking Impact100 Canterbury members for believing in the organisation’s kaupapa.

This is philanthropy made tangible. It is 33 young people being given opportunity, consistency and belonging. It is thousands of hours of mentorship and support. Most importantly, it is the knowledge that somebody is choosing to turn up for them.

The giving extended further, with additional grants of $2,500 awarded to Aviva, which supports people affected by family and sexual violence, and One Mother to Another, which provides practical care and support for mothers and caregivers of hospitalised children.

There is a particular strength in this model of philanthropy. It is collaborative, connected and deeply community focused. Members do not simply make a donation and step away. They hear directly from organisations, consider where funding can have the greatest effect, connect with other women and ultimately have a voice in deciding where their collective contribution goes.

Founding member and Manu Restaurant owner Karen Hattaway captured the energy beautifully at the inaugural Awards Breakfast when she said, “Women move mountains.”

They do, but Impact100 Canterbury also reminds us that those mountains do not need to be moved alone.

For generations, the word philanthropist has often suggested extraordinary personal wealth. Collective giving challenges that perception. Impact100 Canterbury members contribute $1,100 annually, with $900 going directly into the grant pool. A further $100 supports administration and $100 is contributed to the Kate Sheppard Women’s Endowment Fund held by Kura Tāwhiti Canterbury Community Foundation, creating an enduring legacy of support for local women and girls.
It is a model that creates immediate impact while also investing in what comes next. Each contribution becomes part of something significantly larger, allowing women to participate in meaningful philanthropy while connecting with others who share the same desire to strengthen Canterbury.

Founded locally by Lynne Umbers and Jane Anderson, Impact100 Canterbury forms part of an international movement based on the simple idea that women can achieve greater impact by giving collectively. Here, however, the result feels distinctly Canterbury. Local women are supporting local organisations and helping money reach communities across Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri.

The photographs from the 2026 Awards Breakfast tell part of that story beautifully. Women gathered around tables to listen, discuss, vote and connect. On stage, a $27,000 cheque represented the financial impact of their first year. Throughout the room, something equally significant was taking shape: a community of women united by generosity and purpose.

Perhaps that will become one of Impact100 Canterbury’s greatest legacies. Giving transforms the lives of those who receive it, but it can also transform the people who choose to give. It reminds us that influence can be used generously, success can be shared and community is something we each have a hand in creating.

Membership for Impact100 Canterbury’s 2026/27 giving round is now open to women across Canterbury.

For anyone who has ever thought philanthropy belonged to somebody wealthier, older or more established, this is an invitation to think differently. You do not have to change Canterbury alone. When women combine their generosity, their voices and their belief in what is possible, extraordinary things can happen.
Women move mountains. Together, they can move communities too.

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.