Newsletter: #21 (April 28, 2017)

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We've got an event coming up! And so much more...
It feels like we've been busy lately. But then it's usually like that for us.
In this newsletter:

There’s a Dance-O-Mat in Auckland!
The Super Street Arcade TEAM BATTLE on May 6
Welcome to Sarah Campagnolo
Ping Pong tables in part departed
An education update
Upcoming projects!

There's a Dance-O-Mat in Auckland. Yes.

Auckland now has its very own Dance-O-Mat! The project was driven by Auckland Live working with MenzShed and was launched on April 22, 2017 as part of NZ Dance Week.

Auckland Live, who delivered the Auckland version of the project, contacted us last year about building their own version. They made use of the Dance-O-Mat manual that we created across 2015/16 to support other communities to build their very own version. This manual is sold to other cities and with proceeds supporting Gap Filler Trust. The creation of this manual was supported with some seed funding from Rata Foundation (formerly Canterbury Community Trust).

The Auckland Dance-O-Mat has seen a huge amount of use in its first few days by all sorts of people and its popularity has blown away the organisers.

It’s both exciting and a little bit strange for us to see a Dance-O-Mat in Aotea Square. It’s also really a validation of the Christchurch project that other cities want one in their public spaces. The energy and life it brings to a public space is pretty clear!

So rest assured, the Dance-O-Mat hasn’t been copied by Auckland as some fans first thought, rather we helped them do it! Thanks for sticking up for us though. ;)

Dance-O-Mat Auckland launch!

The Auckland Dance-O-Mat was launched last weekend and as you can see, it was slightly popular.

TEAM BATTLE at the Super Street Arcade. May 6.

If you love 80s arcade games, this is the event for you. A TEAM BATTLE playing Attack of the Cones by Cerebral Fix.

When: Saturday May 6, 5 - 8:30pm
Where: Super Street Arcade, Cnr Tuam and High Streets

We’re hosting a TEAM BATTLE in a little over week. It’s open entry and free to enter. Teams of 2 or 3 only, so no solo players, sorry. Featuring live commentary by Ciaran Fox and Mike Field (formerly of RDU Breakfast) and The Grandstandium for plenty of comfortable spectating. It’s going to be lots of fun, so please come along. Bring cash for sausages, t-shirts, posters and more!

Up for grabs is the incredible GOLDEN CONE trophy that’s been donated by Attack of the Cones sponsor, Men at Work. They’re the guys who manage traffic to keep things moving for events, roadworks and more in ChCh. Traffic Management Solutions is what they call it.

Let us know if you’re keen to enter by emailing hitstart@superstreetarcade.co.nz for planning purposes.

Volunteers? We still need a few people to help out at the Battle with various things like selling merchandise, crowd control, setting up, the tournament itself etc. It’s going to be lots of fun, so please email fillthegap@gapfiller.org.nz if you can help. 4:30 - 9:30pm. Thanks!

Rain Day, Sunday May 7.

Ping Pong has departed (in part).
Phase 2 of our Diverscity: Community Showcase Project which saw three concrete tables made by C Lund & Son situated at the end of Cashel Mall has ended, in part. Yesterday, two out of three of the tables were uplifted and returned to C Lund & Son for repairs and then sale. This project was a collaboration with the Chinese Cultural Association.

One table will remain until mid-winter. Thanks to CCC who gave us permission to place the tables here, the tables had five months in place rather than the original three months. They’ve seen lots and lots of use by all different kinds of people. And we’ve had quite a lot of positive feedback about the tables too. If you’ve got feedback about the tables you want us to have, please send it to coralie@gapfiller.org.nz. Thanks.

What's next with this project?

We’re working on Phase 3 of Diverscity which involves collaborating with members of the Nigerian community to make an over-sized game. Watch out for that over winter!

What's coming up?

We have a new team member, education heads up and approaching project alert!

Welcome, Sarah.
Sarah Campagnolo is Gap Filler's newest team member in the role of Volunteer Coordinator. In this role, she'll be helping to better integrate volunteers into Gap Filler and what we do; as well as making sure volunteers have good experiences with us. Sarah is the Chair of Volunteering Canterbury, has been involved with Greening the Rubble and the Student Volunteer Army and is a mum of two young children. She's passionate about sewing, gardening and the great outdoors. We are so excited to have you on board Sarah!

Other stuff to know...

In the coming weeks, we are looking forward to working with primary and secondary students in science and technology, digitech and health as well as discussing opportunities for students to contribute to future projects in an art and design capacity. If you know of any teachers who are interested in getting their students involved in project-based learning as well as making community connections, please get in touch with sally@gapfiller.org.nz For more information about LEOTC programmes, check out our website.

OPEN CITY - coming soon

Our new project that's been in development a while, OPEN CITY, is getting close to becoming live. We’ll be telling you more about this in the coming weeks and asking for your help with the Beta testing phase. OPEN CITY is the next level of our Freisite project that we experimented with last year and is all about sharing sweet, free things to do in Christchurch. We’re thrilled to be collaborating with EWB and the All Right? campaign on this and presently working with McCarthy design and MAKE Collective - it''s great to have so many talented folks getting excited about this project. Stay tuned!

Well, there's been a lot in this newsletter. Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Gap Filler x

Dates to Diary

May 6, 5 - 8:30pm Super Street Arcade BATTLE!

As always a massive thank-you to our principal funders