A little city but great opportunities
Reuben Friend, kaihautu¯/director of Porirua’s Pa¯taka Art + Museum, talks arts, video games, and his search for abs on a diet of potato gratin.
What does it mean to be a Wellingtonian?
It means a different type of human cohabitation. People here have a bit more time for one another. Time for collaboration, creativity and coffee. Though the smallness can at times feel a tad ‘‘provincial’’ – everyone knows everyone’s business.
I live here because?
We’re spoilt for art, galleries, museums, performance and culture – which for me means work and creative opportunities. The opportunities the city has given me have taken me all over the world. My wife, Courtney Johnston, is the CEO of Te Papa.
Where is the best place to swim?
Oriental Parade. The kids are safe, there’s a pontoon to do manubombs from, and coffee and gelato are on hand.
Where’s your favourite place to take in some art?
I’m biased here, my favourite place to take in art is Pa¯taka Art+Museum in Porirua. My team designs exhibitions that are entertaining and child-friendly, plus our gorgeous Japanese garden is the perfect lunch spot to sink a couple of Duncan’s Brewery Beers at Kaizen Cafe.
What’s the best festival in town?
I’m really looking forward to the New Zealand Festival of the Arts in February next year. They’ve put a huge focus on community engagement, creating giant projects in central Wellington with world-renowned artists.
What is your ideal night out in Wellington?
On cold nights, my wife and I recently discovered that the Tory Urban Retreat Sauna was right next door to Hawthorn Lounge Bar. Turns out Wellington’s best cocktails go down so much more jubilantly when you’re refreshingly warm, relaxed and possibly slightly dehydrated after a sauna.
The perfect Saturday morning in the city is?
Eating cheesy potato gratin at Prefab Eatery on Jessie Street, but they’re only open on weekdays. So, I have taken to early morning breakfast dates with my wife during the week. Bottomless coffee, gratin with spinach and salmon, and on special occasions a bottle of Palliser Estate bubbles to wash it all down.
My guilty pleasure in the city is to go to?
Time Zone arcade on Courtenay Place. I know, I’m 40 years old, but I don’t use the kids as an excuse to go there. Being a father is serious business, and they’re just not as good as I am at playing videos games. They need me to win tokens. #howtodad2021
What part of the city are you most at home in?
If you drew a 200-metre radius around Time Zone, that’s where I’m most at home. All the bars and eateries I’ve mentioned are within a 5-minute walk from our apartment.
Not many people know this about Wellington but . . .
you can actually beat Wellington on a good day, you just can’t travel anyway better currently because there is a global pandemic.
Alternative answer to the above:
Flaunt and Flourish on Left Bank, just off Cuba Street. #IYKYK
What is Wellington’s best feature?
It’s a little city, but it’s huge in terms of the decisions that are made here, especially in business, governance and the arts. When my wife and I first got married, we would run up Matairangi Mt Vic and talk about the things we wanted to achieve. She wanted to run Te Papa, and she’d look down and visualise her future there. I wanted to have abs, and I’d look down and visualise that too, but so far only one of us has fully achieved their dream.
What is your greatest hope for this city?
For the cultural sector to be funded properly with a long-term vision for what Wellington could be like if we worked at scale. Also, clean water, low carbon emissions, a healthy economy and mad-defined abdominal muscles sustained on a diet of cheesy gratin and champagne.