Costume and Textile Symposium

For the past two weeks we have been travelling in the North of Aotearoa New Zealand, a trip that started because of the Costume and Textile Symposium in Whangārei.

CTANZ (the Costume and Textile Association of New Zealand) is a membership body and each year runs a symposium somewhere in the country. Often the meeting alternates between North and South, although sometimes this is not possible. The event brings together artists, practitioners, academics, researchers, curators, and others, to share their knowledge and meet like-minded people.

This year the theme of the symposium was “Social Fabric. Interconnectedness: Patterns and Diversity”. Running over three days – Friday 30th August to Sunday 1st September – it took the format of a welcome first, and then keynote speeches each morning followed by talks. Over the next few weeks I shall write about some of the speakers that took part.

An event like this is A Big Deal for some of the smaller centres around Aotearoa. It brings a hundred people to the area, and spreads the network to places that otherwise might not get much attention. In a few years, three of four, Greymouth will be hosting the Symposium and I am looking forward to welcoming CTANZ members to the West Coast for it.