Combining creatives and property owners in public art projects is the ‘dream brokerage’ idea initiated by Urban Dream Brokerage.

To reduce vacant space with the temporary occupation of creative projects, it first emerged in Dunedin and other Aotearoa New Zealand towns in 2012.

Dunedin Dream Brokerage (DDB) was formed in 2018, funded by the Dunedin City Council as part of the Ara Toi Arts and Cultural Strategy. It has since forged its own path, with its Hoe Ākau steering rōpū, an advisory board and a broker.

DDB has facilitated 49 engaging and well-supported art projects, and worked with over 300 artists and community groups.

Have you had your photo taken at RdC cafe and had it developed on-site using a special caffenol recipe by Chris Schmelz?

Have you participated in a mokomoko lizard drawing wānaka with Madison Kelly (Kāi Tahu, Kāti Mamoe, Pākehā) at Orokonui Ecosanctuary – Te Korowai o Mihiwaka?

Perhaps you shared your visions for the ‘city rebuild’ with The City Planners - a team of bureaucrats employed by some unnamed local authority and charged with a city rebuild over the course of a week (part of the Dunedin Fringe Festival; it picked up the award for best visual art and the Warwick Broadhead Memorial Award).

If you did, you have been part of a unique Dunedin Dream Brokerage project.

In addition to the core programme, when other funding opportunities or sponsorship come along, Dunedin Dream Brokerage has the agility to act and assist with further activations with our creative communities.

One example was the The Platform Project of four projects by over 20 artists in response to the George Street Retail Upgrade. It opened with the aural splendour of birdsong from our native manu, entitled Tū Atu, Tū Mai - He Karaka Manu ki kā Manuhiri, by Vicki Lenihan (Waitaha, Kāti Mamoe, Ngāi Tahu).

Each project was ambitious in its realisation and its expansive take on public art. Kā Muramura o te pō Rainbow Aurora was a light installation framed between four trees that ran during, and was dedicated to, Pride Month (video credit: Iain Frengley). You can read responses from four writers to each of the Platform projects in the catalogue by the same name - available in your local library or call into our office and pick one up.

As Covid-19 continued to make its presence known, Dunedin Dream Brokerage shared a public call for Locations of Interest a social media residency that sought to match our creative community’s online social signature with their favourite Ōtepoti locations.

Dunedin Dream Brokerage DDB loves supporting the arts in all its forms! If you have an idea, collaboration, a creative project or just want to learn more, please get in touch with Charlotte at dunedindreambrokerage@gmail.com, visit the website, or call into the office at 19 George Street for a cuppa and a kōrero on a Monday or Thursday.