Depot is a unique arts organisation and ecosystem founded on the belief that nurturing creativity is essential to all of our lives and the future.

Our goal is to ensure that art and creativity make a vital contribution to our culture, our communities and our economy. We support independent artists and arts organisations to connect, converse, collaborate, grow, learn and succeed.

Like the tukutuku pattern that inspires our logo, we value the patience and persistence, the inter-connectedness and strength that it takes to build a thriving creative sector.

Through our Creative Futures programmes, Depot Artspace, Depot Sound and our creative community networks we work to collaboratively showcase, support, empower and platform artists and arts practitioners and advocate for the arts.

We offer a diverse range of programmes and services and continue to remove barriers to participation. We nurture our creative communities and see creativity as vital for social cohesion, through supporting inclusion, diversity and equality.

Rooted in the Te Hau Kapua (Devonport) community since 1996 Depot is committed to supporting a thriving creative eco-system working with artists and creatives to grow their practice, grow their confidence, grow their income, grow their networks and grow their creative future.

Our History

Depot opened its doors in 1996 after a successful campaign which began in 1992. Founders Linda Blincko, Phil Warren, Merle Woodhams and Robyn Gibson along with local volunteers developed the former Devonport Borough Council works depot in Clarence Street as a creative community space, an initiative inspired by The Works, an arts cooperative on King Edward Parade in the 70s and 80s.

Depot has always championed the artist, consistently providing support, direct assistance, and career development to thousands or Aotearoa’s creatives, both emerging and established, across diverse backgrounds and all generations.

Depot’s philosophy of encouragement, support and inclusiveness, its touchstone since inception, is the basis on which Depot has grown into a multi-disciplinary ecosystem and creative hub encompassing all art forms.

With a fast-changing cultural and creative landscape and an urgent need for support post Covid-19, Depot remains committed to strengthening the creative sector.

Depot Artspace, once an exhibition space available for artists to rent, now offers a curatorial programme of exhibitions with an annual call for proposals. Two gallery spaces host a diverse and inspiring range of artists, rotating on a monthly basis

Depot Futures delivers a suite of programmes focused on the professional development of creatives inspired by the original arts incubator mentoring scheme (AIMS) launched in 1999 which has become Depot’s flagship creative employment programme ArtsLab (formerly PACE – Pathways to Arts and Cultural Employment) and the most recent Wayfind Creative sustainable career making programme.

Depot Sound, our infamous in-house recording studios and rehearsal room, are at the heart of the local recording scene, initially operated as a private studio by Rikki Morris and, from 2008 onwards, as a professional recording studio. Two recording studios, a live room and rehearsal room and a sound booth are accessible to all sound and music projects including all musical genres, voice-overs, radio shows, educational programmes, album releases and, increasingly, audiobooks and podcasts.