Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and Te Kawerau ā Maki, a west Auckland-based iwi, are collaborating to strengthen and expand the region’s creative industries sector through the development of Te Puna Creative Quarter, Te Kōpua Henderson.
West Auckland’s Henderson is renowned for its pioneers and innovators. Harnessing this strength, Te Puna Creative Quarter will attract investment, talent and visitors. It will fuel innovation through imagination and be home to Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest community of creative industries and talent, uplifting the region’s mana as a global creative capital.
Te Kawerau ā Maki has gifted the name Te Puna to a vision and economic framework designed to enhance west Auckland as a hub of creative excellence. Puna are springs in the waterways of a tribe's lands. People came together by these waters to cleanse and connect.
Te Puna speaks to the history of Henderson, and the future of a new gathering place and wellspring of inspiration and connectivity. Te Puna Creative Quarter will be a circuit of creative industries linking Henderson village, Corban Estate Arts Centre and Auckland Film Studios in Henderson Valley. Radiating out like ripples, will be integrated services and education providers, to create pathways and opportunities for talent and ideas.
Te Puna Creative Quarter will celebrate the area's indigenous, pioneering and multicultural spirits. It will support a significant community of inspired storytellers and local artists and enable visitors to experience the power of indigenous identity and multi-cultural integrity as it harnesses technological innovation and human expression.
For more information contact:
Jasmine Millet, Head of Creative Industries, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited [email protected]
Delwyn Corin, Principal Advisor Te Puna Creative Quarter, Tātaki Auckland Unlimited [email protected]
What is Te Puna and who is involved?
Te Puna Creative Quarter, Te Kōpua Henderson aspires to be a world-class centre of excellence for creative industries in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland – a hub for screen, video games, creative tech, music, arts and performing arts – like no other in the world.
Tātaki Auckland Unlimited and Te Kawerau ā Maki, a west Auckland-based iwi, are collaborating to strengthen and expand the region’s creative industries sector through the development of a vision and economic framework for Te Puna Creative Quarter.
An economic framework blends spatial and economic planning, looking at area or region through an economic lens, considering what the local economy could be known for or aspire to be, and how this can be achieved through key interventions.
With high concentrations of creative facilities, businesses and talent, Te Puna Creative Quarter will play to Te Kōpua Henderson’s existing strengths. It aims to help increase opportunities for education and training, generate highly skilled jobs, nurture talent, strengthen community, fuel innovation, and attract visitors and investment in west Auckland.
Where did the name Te Puna come from?
Te Kawerau ā Maki has gifted the name Te Puna to the vision and economic framework designed to enhance west Auckland as a hub of creative excellence. Puna are springs in the waterways of a tribe's lands. People came together by these waters to cleanse and to connect with each other. Te Puna speaks to the history of Henderson, and the future of a new gathering place – a wellspring of inspiration and connectivity.
What is its geographical area of Te Puna?
Bordered by Keeling Road and Great North Road, and part of the Eke Panuku Development Unlock Henderson urban regeneration area, Te Puna Creative Quarter will be a circuit of creative industries linking Henderson village, Corban Estate Arts Centre and Auckland Film Studios in Henderson Valley.
What is the creative industries sector and why is it important?
Creative industries are defined as businesses that operate at the intersection of creativity and commerce, that create and commercialise ideas (generating products and capital) and provide skilled and knowledge-intensive jobs.
The diverse industries operating in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland's creative sector include:
- Advertising and design
- Architecture
- Augmented and virtual reality (AR and VR)
- Film and television production
- Food innovation
- Gaming
- Music
- Performing arts
- Photography
- Post-production
- Publishing TV and radio broadcasting
- Software development
- Visual effects and animation
- Rangatahi (youth) development
Auckland is home to 50 per cent of New Zealand’s creative workforce, employs more than 57,000 people and accounted for 50 per cent of the country’s creative sector GDP in 2022 - $7.8 billion.
Why is Te Puna important for Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland?
The employment offering of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s west is undergoing immense change. As its suburbs have grown, key employment sectors, such as manufacturing, are fragmenting.
With only 200 new jobs in central Henderson in 20 years, locals must often travel for work. This is contrasted with the growing creative industries sector, a diverse and proven network of skilled providers, that holds west Auckland at the heart of what they do.
Cities in the United Kingdom, North America, Australia and Singapore are actively positioning creative industries as key to future economic and cultural success. These cities are offering interventions, investment and training to ensure the best creative, artistic and tech minds have what they need to prosper.
Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland must do the same - in a manner appropriate to our people and place - or we risk losing market share and jeopardising our successes to date. Te Puna Creative Quarter, Henderson, seeks to address this need.
How is Te Puna being progressed?
As part of the development strategy for Te Puna Creative Quarter, an Establishment Group will be formed and regularly meet to help shape a vision and economic framework.
The Establishment Group will be made up of members of the creative industries sector, Auckland Council representatives, iwi and community representatives. It will be co-chaired by Robin Taua-Gordon, Te Kawerau ā Maki iwi and Penny Hulse, former Deputy Mayor of Waitākere City Council and Deputy Mayor of Auckland.