CHANNEL COVER FEATURE: NZ Sculpture OnShore 2016
Friends of Women's Refuge Trust members. Trisha Whiting, Sally Dewar, Liz Darlow, Jill Goddard, Sue Harvey, Rhonwen Dewar, Pennie Kennings, Tania Stewart, Dorothy McHattie (chairperson).
Behind the scenes at NZ Sculpture OnShore When you attend NZ Sculpture on Shore this year, bear this in mind: this exhibition is not only a hugely successful arts event with a 20 year history. It is also a biennial fundraiser for Women’s Refuge, raising $180,000 in 2014 and aiming even higher this year. Your attendance and any purchases you make go directly to supporting the 35 Women’s Refuges across the country. What makes this direct contribution possible, and what perhaps goes unseen as you and more than 20,000 others flock to Fort Takapuna in Narrow Neck in mid-November is the level of volunteer support that goes into making the event a success. The volunteer effort starts with the Friends of Women’s Refuge Trust, the members of which are all volunteers, and extends to the NZ Sculpture OnShore Board, the hundreds of volunteer workers who come on board for each event, Devonport Rotary, and beyond. Sally Dewar, chair of the NZ Sculpture OnShore board, is one of two trustees of the Friends of Women’s Refuge Trust who is also on the board. A conversation with her reveals the depth and breadth of the volunteer effort, and the professionalism of the trust and board in managing and planning for the engagement of the volunteer “workforce”. The Friends of Women’s Refuge Trust is the core group, she explains. It began the event in Genevieve and David Becroft’s garden in 1996. It owns NZ Sculpture OnShore as a fundraising
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Issue 71 - November 2016 www.channelmag.co.nz
By Christine Young
vehicle for Women’s Refuge. “We are trying to bolster the core funding, and augment what every refuge raises in its own community,” says Sally. Last year, through a partnership with The Warehouse, the value of some of the money was multiplied to the extent that every refuge received kits with nighties, pyjamas and slippers for the children; in the past money has been used for towels and sheets. This year, a special counselling fund is being set up for women who will benefit from intensive support. “We also print self-help books,” Sally notes. “All of these things benefit all the refuges.” Many members of the Trust, like Sally, have started their involvement through volunteering at NZ Sculpture OnShore. Shoulder-tapped by Lenore Sumpter, one of the exhibition’s founders, Sally started in 2006 by helping with the children’s sculpture exhibition. After two years she was asked to organise the front gate (ticket and catalogue sales), and then to join the Board to undertake sponsorship. “And now here I am, chair of the board!” Once the funds from an exhibition are distributed, usually within four or five months of the event, the trustees undertake a review and decide whether to tackle NZ Sculpture OnShore again. They then mandate the board of NZ Sculpture OnShore, a limited liability company with charitable status, to run the event. The board, also voluntary, is made up of seven professionals with