Positive news for CoCA's future - The Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki (CoCA) in Ōtautahi Christchurch announces 2023 re-launch.

A message from Canterbury Society of Arts Board Chair, Anna Ryan:

Tēnā koutou,

We’re delighted to announce that later in 2023, Toi Moroki – the Centre of Contemporary Art (CoCA), will launch a new exhibition programme.

From mid-2023, the doors of the CoCA gallery at 66 Gloucester Street will swing open once more, welcoming visitors to new contemporary art exhibitions and an exciting ‘pop-up’ of Canterbury Museum.

The Museum has agreed a lease with us which will allow it to deliver exhibitions in the first floor of our building for the next five years while their building is completely redeveloped.

CoCA will continue to operate from the Ō Papa ground floor gallery, behind Lux.

The ‘pop-up’ Museum will house a mixture of temporary exhibitions as well as the ‘greatest hits and highlights’ from its permanent galleries.

This partnership – of art and artefacts – is extremely positive news.

It brings stability for CoCA and ensures Cantabrians and visitors to the city will be able to view some of the Museum’s taonga while its Rolleston Ave building is closed to the public.

As you know, CoCA’s been facing a number of challenges and needed more than $150,000 to replace the building’s air conditioning system.

Thankfully, the Christchurch City Council has agreed to meet us halfway, with a $75,000 grant to complete the much-needed upgrade. This will ensure the gallery has the right heating and cooling systems to preserve the Museum’s precious taonga. That work will be undertaken over the next six months. In the meantime, the CoCA team is committed to ensuring Christchurch’s thriving arts scene stays active, with planning underway for a number of exciting events. You can keep up-to-date with what’s happening by following us on Facebook and Instagram.

CoCA’s Long-Term Future

This new partnership is great news for CoCA and ensures we can keep our much-loved building. It does not, however, provide us with long-term financial security post the Museum tenancy.

Our Board is continuing to work tirelessly on this, as well as developing a new strategic plan for programming. We’ll be sharing our vision for this strategy with you in the next few months and as always will welcome all input.

Our focus will be on connecting arts practitioners and communities in Waitaha Canterbury. We are confident we can deliver a strategy to achieve this.

For now, we’re excited to share the news with you that we’re here to stay. Our partnership with the Museum is a real cause for celebration. Check out this video clip for more information on what's to come.

I hope you are as excited as I am to see CoCA and Canterbury Museum work alongside each other to deliver compelling displays for Cantabrians and visitors alike for the next five years.

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