‘Arts’ and far more

Press, 4 December 1981, Page 9

‘Arts’ and far more

The Christchurch Arts Centre is the largest one in New Zealand, covering more than 2ha and housing 60 permanent organisations. It involves almost every imaginable aspect of the arts, though the best-known establishments are probably the Court Theatre, the Southern Ballet, the AcademyCinema and the two restaurants — the Dux de Lux. offering vegetarian food and the Sorbonne. French. Alongside the Bookshop, in what was the University of Canterbury’s physics depart-

ment, is the Gingko Gallery, the only gallery in the country specifically for the display of printed works on paper. Less well-known are the craft workshop, the Cornerstone Pottery and the Environment Centre, which is in the same building as the Dux de Lux. Besides the obviously artstype organisations at the Arts Centre, there are community and social welfaretype groups, some professional bodies and services and various groups that do

not fit into any of these categories. Among these are. for example, the Yoga Studio and the refurbished “Rutherford's den” (open to the public). Artists and craftspeople occupy the myriad of studios in the higher reaches of the buildings, and some fiats have been built into what were formerly tiered lecture theatres. In addition to the several hundred rooms leased to permanent tenants, there are numerous facilities for hire on a casual or regular, prebooked basis. The most impressive are the Great Hall, popular for rehearsals, concerts, AGMs, fairs and dances, and the Centre Gallery, often used for concerts or displays.