CHRISTCHURCH HERITAGE AWARDS CHARITABLE TRUST – ON PAUSE
The Christchurch Heritage Awards Charitable Trust celebrated its 10th anniversary in June 2021. Over this time the Trust, in conjunction with its family of sponsors and supporters, has witnessed outstanding success of this biennial event. Each event attracted a diverse and exciting range of entries from cabins to mansions, from small to large commercial and public buildings, from rural to urban structures and country houses and the best of the best new builds as heritage of the future. The events were occasions where networking of like-minded heritage advocates and professionals from around Canterbury came together in celebration of this important social event.
The Awards were initiated by myself in 2010 and have been run as a not for profit trust. Their success can be attributed to invaluable sponsorship from several key businesses and organisations over the past 12 years. As the awards are totally reliant on sponsorship it has been increasingly difficult to continue without it. Therefore, the decision has been made to pause the awards for the time being. We are deeply appreciative of the support our previous sponsors have shown and understand entirely that in some cases their time has come to stand aside for others to step up and show the support required to run future awards.
This means a long-term pause for the Canterbury Heritage Awards, as we, the trustees, take time to re-think and re-imagine the awards in a manner that enables a sustainable future and of recognising those who have contributed to the protection and future of historic heritage in Canterbury.
Expressions of interest to support a future event as a key sponsor are invited. Please call Geoff Bone (Event Convener) on 0274 858 185 if you wish to know more.
So, in the meantime, on behalf of the trustees, keep up the good work. You have all either individually or collectively been complicit in keeping our history alive, to be remembered and cherished.
With kind regards
Dame Anna Crighton
DNZM, QSO, JP, PhD(Otago)
September 2022
The Right Honourable Helen Clark, ONZ, former head of the United Nations Development Programme 2009-2017, has been the Patron of the Christchurch Heritage Awards Charitable Trust since its inception in 2010. Helen Clark was Prime Minister of New Zealand for three consecutive terms from 1999 to 2008, and during that time was also Minister of Arts, Culture and Heritage, an unprecedented move by a Prime Minister and one which recognised the significance of New Zealand’s cultural heritage. Helen Clark has received further honours to her already extensive resume in recent months ranging from honorary doctorates from the University of Sydney and the University of Waikato to being invested into Japan’s Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun – one of the highest decorations which the Japanese Government can bestow. In July 2020, Helen was appointed as a Co-Chair of the Independent Panel on Pandemic Preparedness and Response which was established to review the internationally co-ordinated response to the COVID19 pandemic.
Anna Crighton initiated and established the Christchurch Heritage Awards in 2010 in order to raise the profile of those who have successfully protected and preserved the built environment. Anna who is committed to the retention and conservation of New Zealand’s bi-cultural heritage is well known to the Canterbury public as a heritage advocate, commentator and writer. Her establishment of the Christchurch Heritage Trust in 1996 of which she Chairs has resulted in the saving of much loved and significant heritage buildings in Christchurch and her role serving on the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Board for ten years attests to her long- standing commitment for our country’s cultural and heritage values.
Anna has been a Trustee/Director for cultural entities for over twenty years including Chair of the Canterbury Earthquake Heritage Buildings Fund as well as President of Historic Places Aotearoa. She was a Christchurch City Councillor for twelve years (1995–2007) during which time she chaired the Arts Culture and Heritage Committee, a Director and Chair of the Christchurch Arts Centre Board (1994–2004) and a Director of the Theatre Royal Charitable Trust since 2001. Anna was awarded the Queen’s Service Order for Public Service in 2005 and received a Christchurch Civic Trust Award in 2007 as well as a Christchurch City Council Civic Award in 2015.
In the New Year Honours 2020 Anna was appointed a Dame Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to heritage preservation and governance.