50 years of friendship. 50/50 for the future of art - Help us grow the new Aoraki Art Fund

The Friends of the Aigantighe turn 50 this year. We could have marked the occasion by simply looking back at what the Friends have helped achieve since 1976. Instead, we decided to put something substantial towards the future. We have committed $50,000 from Friends funds to the new Aoraki Art Fund. Now we are asking our community to help us match it. For every new dollar donated, we will add another dollar, up to $50,000. 

Our aim is to begin with:
$50,000 from our community + $50,000 from the Friends
= $100,000 is invested by the Aoraki Foundation and the fund can grow.
And the income can keep supporting visual art into the future

For 50 years, Friends members and volunteers have found practical ways to support art and the Aigantighe Art Gallery. Sometimes that has meant helping with an artwork or exhibition. Sometimes it has been fundraising, conservation, education, events, advocacy or simply bringing people together around a shared interest in art. We want that support to continue. Our usual fundraising will still help us respond to projects and opportunities as they arise. The Aoraki Art Fund gives us something different: a fund that can grow and provide another source of support over the longer term. That is why we felt our 50th anniversary was the right time to begin.

What could the fund help us support?

The Aoraki Art Fund gives us the chance to support good ideas and new opportunities as they arise. That might mean helping care for an important artwork, supporting an exhibition or acquisition, encouraging education, creating an opportunity for an artist, or backing a project that helps more people connect with visual art.

Most importantly, it gives the Friends another way to keep saying yes to good ideas that support visual art in Aoraki Area (Waimate, Mackenzie, Pleasant Point, Temuka, Geraldine and Timaru), now and into the future. We hope the fund will grow over time, giving future generations of Friends the same opportunity to support art, artists and our community.

About the Aoraki Art Fund

The Friends of the Aigantighe established the Aoraki Art Fund in partnership with the Aoraki Foundation. The Aoraki Foundation manages and invests the fund for long-term benefit. Income generated by the fund can help the Friends support projects and initiatives that encourage a love of visual art in South Canterbury, including suitable projects developed in collaboration with Aigantighe Art Gallery.

For more detailed information about how the fund works, giving options, tax credits and long-term fund management, visit the Aoraki Foundation.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE AORAKI ART FUND aorakifoundation.org.nz/aoraki-art

DOWNLOAD THE FLYER HERE page 1 / page 2

“The Aoraki Art Fund gives our community a direct role in shaping Aigantighe’s public collection. Through this collective support, we can bring significant works into the collection, inspire new ideas and creative connections, and ensure art remains accessible to the people of South Canterbury for generations to come.” – Aigantighe Art Gallery Director

‘We often get donors telling us they want to contribute to the Arts, but they are unsure how best to do this. In South Canterbury there hasn’t been an easy and obvious way to make a difference. I believe the Aoraki Art Fund will change that. It is a way people can contribute knowing that their gift will be protected and grown for the long-term benefit of art in our region.” – Richard Spackman, Chief Executive, Aoraki Foundation​​​​

Will you help us reach $100,000? You do not have to be a Friends member to take part. Perhaps Aigantighe has been part of your life for years. Perhaps you are an artist, a regular visitor, a former volunteer or someone who simply wants art to have a strong future in South Canterbury.

And you do not need to make a large donation. A $20 gift becomes $40... a $50 gift becomes $100... a $250 gift becomes $500. Every contribution moves us closer to the $50,000 we are hoping our community will raise.
+ you can upload your donation receipt to MyIRD, and if your personal donation is over $5, you can claim back 33%. So if you donate $100, you get $33 back.

Your effective $66.67 contribution helps put $200 into a perpetual fund for the future of visual art in South Canterbury.

We have put our $50,000 on the table... Will you help us match it? 50 years of friendship. 50/50 for the future of art.

"For 50 years, generations of Friends have given their time, ideas and generosity to support art in our community. As we celebrate this milestone, we are proud to build on what they started. By committing $50,000 to match donations from our community, we have the opportunity to begin the Aoraki Art Fund with $100,000. From there, the fund is designed to keep growing and generating support for visual art in South Canterbury. It is our way of taking the generosity of the past 50 years and carrying it forward for our children, their generation, and the generations still to come.” - Friends of the Aigantighe Art Gallery Inc Committee

Geoff Cloake, Izzy Hillman (Kairauhī Whakaaturanga / Exhibitions Curator), Cara Fitzgerald (Gallery Director), Dr Jill Harland, Nicole Timney, Fr Ian Hanley MTh (Oxon), Katie Ashbaugh Terpstra, Roselyn Fauth, and Juliet Crawford