Christchurch Earthquake
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The Big Idea extends its condolences to those affected by the Christchurch earthquake and our deepest sympathy to those grieving for lost loved ones. We stand ready to join forces with other arts organisations around the country to assist members of our community in every way that we can.
Read updates from the creative community, and please add yours.
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The Big Idea extends its condolences to those affected by the Christchurch earthquake and our deepest sympathy to those grieving for lost loved ones. We stand ready to join forces with other arts organisations around the country to assist members of our community in every way that we can.
Read updates from the creative community, and please add yours.
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- Update Tuesday March 1, 3pm.
A national state of emergency has been declared after the 6.3 magnitude earthquake hit Christchurch on Tuesday 22 February.
Creative support for Christchurch
The creative community are coming together to offer their support for Christchurch.
- See some of the fundraising events here and add yours.
Many events in Christchurch have been cancelled or postponed including the 6th SCAPE Christchurch Biennial of Art in Public Space.
"The Trust and SCAPE Team will meet to discuss the future of SCAPE once the city has settled and begun the difficult healing process."
- See more event updates here, and add yours.
Creative Community in Christchurch
Updates from the Creative community in Christchurch. Please add yours in the comment box or contact editor@thebigidea.co.nz.
Creative New Zealand: While CNZ's Christchurch based staff were not injured during the earthquake their central city office is closed until further notice.
Organisations CNZ has been in contact with include the Christchurch Arts Festival Trust, The Court Theatre, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, SCAPE Biennial, the Christchurch Writers Festival and the Physics Room.
The Arts Centre (which houses The Court and other arts organisations) has been extensively damaged and the theatre will be closed for a period.
Farmers' Market at the Arts Centre said on Facebook that The Arts Centre including the Markets are closed until further notice. "We cannot access the site, and we cannot remotely access our computers so have no contact details. We expect to be in contact via email later next week. Until then I pray that you are all safe and well."
The Christchurch Arts Festival Trust does not have access to their premises. The state of their performance venues in Christchurch is unknown but their programme for August 2011 is likely to be affected.
Court Theatre: The theatre has been damaged and according to their reports on twitter on Tuesday they got out of the building o.k and had no bad news about any Court Theatre staff. They do not have access to their premises so are unable to assess the impact of the earthquake. Their Midnight in Moscow season has been disrupted.
The Christchurch Symphony Orchestra’s office was damaged by the earthquake and will be closed at least until the end of next week. All of their performance venues have been damaged, in some way, so they may need to find alternatives to continue their scheduled programme.
The SCAPE Biennial on 4 March – 17 April will not go ahead.
The Physics Room’s March exhibition has been cancelled and the gallery will remain closed until further notice.
Christchurch Readers and Writers Festival do not have access to their office but are hopeful that their May festival in the Christchurch Art Gallery will go ahead.
Christchurch Art Gallery: The building is once again being used as a Civil Defence headquarters and is also the venue for media briefings.
The gallery said on twitter they were in good shape all things considered, and had been busy on Tuesday removing works from galleries to enable further expansion by Civil Defence.
“We've sustained a small amount of damage to our collection this time. 10-15 works are affected & we're assessing condition & repair options.”
The Gallery had just opened (Feb 12) a public exhibition in the foyer BEFORE AFTER: Let's build a better Canterbury aimed to provide a forum to discuss and debate the way forward from the September 2010 earthquake.
Booksellers: Booksellers have been publishing updates on their blog. Children's Book Shop Christchurch manager and Booksellers Director, Mary Sangster has been in touch and there are no reports of injury relating to her, shop owner Shelia Sinclair or staff.
Canterbury Museum: The Museum will remain closed until further notice. Updated information will be available in this section of the website as it becomes available.
Museums Aotearoa: We have not heard of anyone being hurt in museums or galleries. Read the blog for Canterbury earthquake Museum and Gallery updates.
Christchurch City Libraries: All Christchurch City Libraries are closed, and they are waiving all fines from the 22 Feb.
VBase Venues: Christchurch Convention Centre; Christchurch Town Hall for Performing Arts; CBS Canterbury Arena; and AMI Stadium will be closed until at least 15 March 2011.
Preliminary assessments of the venues have confirmed structural damage to AMI Stadium; Christchurch Convention Centre and Christchurch Town Hall for Performing Arts.
CBS Canterbury Arena sustained minor structural damage.
AMI Stadium has repairable structural damage, significant damage to fixtures and fittings and liquefaction impacts within the stadium including the playing surface.
Your stories
Read this personal account from Christchurch resident Kip Brook - A war zone but no sign of the enemy - and see more from The Big Idea members here.
Please email editor@thebigidea.co.nz for any updates, reports or pictures.
We will add updates where possible. You can also follow some live reports on Twitter @thebigideanz and #eqnz
- Key emergency information
Helpline: The government help hotline is 0800 779 997 and the Red Cross hotline is 0800 733 276
(For enquiries outside New Zealand: + 64 7 850 2199)
Canterbury Earthquake: Response information managed by Environment Canterbury.
Civil Defence: Advice and updates.
Ministry of Health: Including updates from Canterbury District Health Board, protecting your health in an emergency, National Health Emergency Plan and how to cope with stress and anxiety.
People finder: Google Christchurch Earthquake people-finder.
Twitter: For first-hand reports that people are safe following the Christchurch earthquake.
Christchurch Recovery Map: Community information for the Christchurch earthquake.