Boost for Drews Ave creative precinct

An emerging arts and hospitality precinct in Drews Avenue will be given a boost thanks to funding from Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency’s Innovating Streets for People fund.

Councils around the country applied to the fund and Whanganui District Council’s Drews Avenue application was one of the 50 percent of applications given the green light.

The Innovating Streets fund – which provides 90 percent of the funding for projects – supports quick, low-cost improvements to create more people-friendly spaces. These can then be evaluated and used to inform permanent upgrades.

Town Centre Regeneration Chair, Councillor Helen Craig, says, “Through this project we’ll be revamping the streetscape, making it more welcoming and vibrant so it’s a place where pedestrians want to wander and enjoy our heritage and artistic community.

“This project will also assist with our economic recovery post COVID-19, shining a spotlight on Whanganui as an arts destination for visitors from other regions.”

Town Centre Regeneration Project Manager, Ellen Young, says Drews Avenue is a crucial connecting route between our public spaces when the town centre is viewed as a whole. “It provides a link from Whanganui River and the i-SITE Visitor Information Centre up to the Sarjeant Gallery and Regional Museum in Pukenamu Queen’s Park with creatives, cafes, UCOL and NZ Glassworks en route.” Workshops will be run with the surrounding community to co-design and co-create the precinct, Ellen Young says.