Tara facilities sharing resources
Spend an hour at the library, develop your musical passions, enjoy some art, then finish off your day with a swim.
That’s what families are in for when they head to the tara Town Centre in South Auckland during the school holidays.
Staff from tara Music and Arts Centre (OMAC), Fresh Gallery,
tara Library, tara Pool and Leisure Centre, and Te Puke o Tara are collaborating to deliver a new approach.
Dubbed the Serving tara Community Members (SOCM), the five Auckland Council facilities have been combining their school holiday programmes since the start of the year.
OMAC facilities manager Bobby Kennedy says it’s a first for council as it includes staff from arts and culture, libraries, sports and recreation, and community facilities departments.
He doesn’t know why they haven’t collaborated on their holiday programmes sooner as they all work next door to each other.
‘‘For all we know they could be doing something that could have been clashing with ours at the same time,’’ Kennedy says.
‘‘As a parent I know how hard it is to get out the door so it’s hard for families to get kids together to come and spend just half an hour at the library.’’
This way, parents can bring their children along for a full day of programmes around the town centre.
Community libraries manager Ian Toki says about 100 children come to tara Library over the twoweek school holiday programme.
While most of those are from tara, a lot are also cousins or friends from outside the area, he says.
As the initiative evolves, Kenney and Toki want to see more Auckland communities develop similar approaches and involve each other in decision making processes.
They also plan to continue collaborating on more than just school holiday programmes, like having staff being able to access buildings.
Some of the events planned for the holidays include free swimming at the pool and leisure centre, art activities at Fresh Gallery, and a Survivor challenge at the library.
Head to ourauckland.aucklandcouncil.govt.nz for more information.