Commonspace by Mouthfull Collective - Image: Milan Maric
Kia ora, thank you for your interest in working with the Urban Dream Brokerage whānau.
For us to strengthen the mauri of our city we need your creative energy and fresh ideas. In exchange, we provide space for artists, creatives and social practitioners in our city. Working between property stakeholders and local authorities, the individuals and community groups we serve, UDB brokers the temporary use of space. Be it public or commercial, empty or underutilised, we look for participatory and innovative projects and activations that assist in urban revitalisation.
Have a look through our process below and feel free to reach out at any stage, all questions & queries are welcome - Our key focus is making relationships that allow ideas to be tested and flourish.
Need some inspiration? Have a look through the many amazing projects on our activations page… or buy the book now!
PROCESS
1. Submission
To start a submission first dream up a brilliant and engaging idea! Check through our process and criteria, give us a call or send an email to discuss if need be. Once applicants are satisfied that they meet our criteria for application, please fill out the UDB Submission Form and contact the broker to confirm.
2. Assessment
After processing, the applications are assessed by the UBD advisory panel, who make a consensus decision. The proposal must receive majority approval as to matching the criteria, and they may provide advice on its best implementation. The advisory panel is important in providing outside advice and it’s important to us as it represents people from the independent arts, business, property, public art and management fields. UBD then meet with applicants to vet their application and discuss potential spaces.
3. Location
UDB proceeds to locate property or space options and commence negotiations if applicable. Applicants are also encouraged to identify spaces they think are suitable (in some instances they will actually negotiate the use of space themselves). If we think a project is suitable for a space that is available we meet with the applicant and assess the project in more detail.
4. Licensing
Once located, UDB issues any licenses needed and arranges for public liability insurance cover (a key part of the brokerage's services to applicants) and if applicable assists applicants to obtain power and other utilities (we can help with set-up but the cost of power and utilities is at the licensee's cost).
5. Monitoring
The agency then monitors the progress, and reports back to both property owners, local authorities and partners at the end of the license. We will also feature applicants' projects on our website, through our newsletter to our database and through social media. Projects that aren't temporary should plan on operating on a rolling 30 day period of use.
6. Reporting
We ask projects to complete a written report after their project and hold one-on-one debrief meetings with them. This includes keeping count of visitor numbers and collecting comments from participants.
Useful links to funding:
CRITERIA
Engage the people of Te Whanganui-a Tara: Projects that are dynamic and open to the public, accessible and visible. They need to increase a sense of community in the city, create a sense of optimism and possibility for the city’s future through participation, and interact with the public in new ways.
Provide the unique and innovative: We’re not interested in turning cities into another copy of themselves, or one type of space or gallery. Think about your project might operate differently to what is already in existence. We want to create spaces for collisions of ideas and transformational magic moments. Our projects provide a wellspring of diverse new ideas for how to live.
Representation: We want to engage with an increasingly diverse community who are empowered by what you do. In particular we wish to increase the visibility of mana whenua and the connection between the city and the history of the land it is placed on. That means gaining strong mana whenua support and partnership to promote kaitiakitanga, rangatiratanga and whaihanga. Applicants are asked to consider how their project represents these elements.
Being professional and having a clear idea: We want to provide diverse physical spaces for artists and community groups to collaborate and develop long term. Applicants should demonstrate they are ready to look after a site or hold a public space responsibly. Looking after a space open to the public develops professional skills and business practice, UDB needs to have confidence you are ready. By getting this right we ensure our creatives are healthy, thriving and embedded in the city.
Pay attention to context: Applicants should think about where their project might best be located and how it might effectively interact with its surrounding neighbourhood and its existing uses. Can your project acknowledge the history of its site and the neighbourhood it sits in? How might you contribute to caring for our whenua and our climate?
Existing Relocating Projects: Projects that involve relocating from an existing rented space in Wellington city are not eligible. We do not want to undermine existing businesses and tenancies so we have to prioritise new projects and initiatives.