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Post-earthquake Christchurch has seen the creative sectors flourish with an emphasis on local, affordable and inclusive activities. One of Christchurch’s most prolific performance artists, Audrey Baldwin is a curator, producer and facilitator of events in the city. Her personal practice is closely linked to the events she develops, it is all about “sharing experiences with people and creating conversations.” One such event is First Thursday’s Christchurch; held in the galleries, shops and streets of Sydenham.

Audrey started producing large-scale events like First Thursday’s because she needed an audience for her performance work ‘Nightwatch.’ “I was to be sitting in a shop window with ten candles burning in an antler formation on my head. I had made a headpiece for it and it needed to be done at night. I thought ‘no one comes into the city at night, this is post-quake Christchurch,’ so I decided to organise a night market with 30 different stalls, live music and late night shopping.”

In addition, Audrey is a fierce promoter of the idea that art is an act that one chooses to take part in. “My work casts the viewer as an active participant because engaging with art should be an active thing – it shouldn’t be just watching dumbly.” Passive participation is not an option when it comes to interacting with Audrey’s work.

Audrey engages new audiences with contemporary art by “dangling the carrot for the normal people.” Her ongoing curatorial projects Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School, and Naked Girls Reading hook people by providing a sense of rebellion through embodied performers within a safe environment where experimentation is encouraged. Dr Sketchy’s is Audrey’s longest running gig. Audrey describes it as being “quite theatrical, a small audience of 50 people per time, every six weeks – I guess I just upscaled that and made it a little bit more clothed and a little bit more G-rated.”

First Thursday’s has been running biannually since 2012. Audrey curates alongside Manager, Warren Feeney, in conjunction with the Christchurch City Council and local business owners. It is an event that occurs around the world from Cape Town to Auckland; and is always a celebration of artists, local businesses and galleries, accompanied by market stalls, food trucks, live music and poetry readings.

Their vision is centred around building communities, providing opportunities and showcasing the arts. This event has become a platform for emerging and local artists to engage new audiences, all the while bringing the wider creative community out for a night of celebration. Public spaces are available for artists outside the white box of the art gallery, and encourage creative thinking outside of institutions.

In addition to supporting artists, the event is a chance to recognise the suburb of Sydenham. Following the earthquakes, the inaccessibility of the city centre benefitted this historically industrial suburb. “What I like about Sydenham,” says Audrey, “is that it’s not gentrified yet, it’s up and coming and there are changes but it’s not super fancy…you have this really interesting contrast between old dusty ‘For Lease’ signs and these shiny new buildings.”

During its early regeneration a variety of businesses including four art spaces, bespoke jewellers and law firms migrated south down Colombo Street, at a time when even the Christchurch Art Gallery was yet to reopen its doors. The owner-operated, independent establishments are easy for Audrey to collaborate with. Without chain stores or middle men it is possible to discuss ideas and her relationships with business owners are the foundation of First Thursday’s.

First Thursday’s prides itself on being a free, child-friendly evening that is cultural, engaging, open and approachable to emerging artists and new communities alike. Retaining and developing diversity in the programme is an important part of the curatorial role, especially in an area with a growing immigrant population. “It’s about keeping my mind open and trying to be a bit adventurous by including unexpected elements and different facets of society. Because, as much as we think Christchurch is quite conservative, it’s actually quite multicultural if you dig a bit deeper.”

Audrey and Warren assign a theme to each rendition of First Thursday’s to reflect the season and current events; the theme also provides a structure for collaborators and brings aesthetic unity to their publications. Audrey considers how an artist’s practice will lend itself to the time of year as well as the environment and programme she plans to create.

The theme for August 2017 was Dreamscapes, and was inspired by the Surrealist movement. Audrey’s commitment to collective practice, led her to align herself with the Surrealists and their positive, forward thinking ideals. The Dreamscapes theme celebrated the whimsical side of Surrealism, but left room for artists to interpret the theme from a darker tilt and to discover ‘Nightmarescapes’.

So how does First Thursday’s work?

Three or four artists are invited to produce a commissioned work. Janna van Hasselt, Mark Catley, and Josh Bashford/Uncle Harold produced installation works for Dreamscapes. Audrey presented them with the theme and keywords such as: absurd, oozing, growing, intense, delicate, scale, colour, memory and sentiment.

Janna’s work frequently investigates 3D forms and uses bright colours; she created an installation in the window of Annah Stretton in teal and red creating an optical illusion depending on the viewer's position. Mark produced an installation in the Westend Jewellers; an action figure he has collected 101 times filled a jewellery cabinet, invoking ideas of memory, nostalgia and consumerism. While Josh created a painting work inside streetwear store Embassy during the evening.

Alongside the commissioned works, Audrey curates three or four large group shows incorporating 60-80 artists. An open-call is sent out for artists to submit proposals and register their interest. These large shows benefit more artists at a much lower cost and enable quirky works to be included, which may not otherwise be accepted into shows. This levelling of the playing field is important to Audrey, as established and outsider artists show their work together.

To push artists to collaborate Audrey played the role of Curator/Match Maker to create ‘Blind Date’, a show comprised of 32 artists and 16 artworks. Participants were required to complete a short ‘date form’ including their name, birth date, star sign, location, three words to describe their personality and three to describe their practice, and indicate whether they were happy to work with an overseas or non-visual artist. Audrey then spent the day match-making the artists into (hopefully) compatible pairs.

Audrey sought to challenge participants through Blind Date, to introduce peers, to build new communities, and to help artists to take a refreshing look at their own practice and perhaps even surprise themselves – a show to embody the essence of First Thursday’s. Her favourite match was Gaby Montejo and Kaur Chimuk. “Gaby is a performance artist in Christchurch, and Chi is this artist from Calcutta… Gaby was like ‘pair me up with someone crazy!’ And they are doing some really ambitious year-long performance work now – stemming from this!”

But what has changed since 2012?

Audrey and Warren have overcome a number of obstacles and learnt valuable lessons, some are ongoing such as the fight for funding and their unwillingness to compromise on standards. Initially they struggled to build “the relationships and the trust with local businesses that didn’t know us, they were like ‘who are you what are you doing here?’ We had to try and win them over and convince them that this was worth being a part of. I’ve realised that the point and the strength of this event is bringing communities together and incorporating communities that already exist.” Audrey promotes knowing and working closely with your community to build inclusion and ownership, which is vital in a neighbourhood that can offer generous in-kind support and sponsorship, but limited financial aid.

Despite operating in a period that has seen significant cuts to arts funding, First Thursday’s Christchurch has determinedly hosted seven events and has no plans to slow down. Operating on a modest budget, they are generously supported by local Sydenham businesses: The Colombo, Powell Fenwick, BNS Design and Print, Pablo 383, and the Christchurch City Council, community boards and Ara Institute of Canterbury. Enhancing community engagement alongside the support of local businesses and local government has been at the centre of the events success.

Through First Thursday’s, Audrey aims to normalise the presence of art in public spaces, to expand the definition of art and where it should be placed. She hopes that the relationships built between retailers and artists will live on outside of the event. A stream of pop-up exhibitions are now being held at Embassy, growing organically and becoming an intrinsic part of Sydenham’s social calendar. Audrey’s advice to other curators and promoters is to be inclusive but discerning, learn to delegate, be tenacious.

Explore the upcoming First Thursday’s Christchurch for yourself on Thursday December 7th; a celebration of different peoples and different cultures where you are sure to feel WELCOME.