Waiheke’s Art Island Plan Aims To Boost Winter Tourism & Local Economy
Waiheke aims to attract winter visitors by branding itself as a creative island.
Waiheke is ramping up its appeal to tourists by becoming an art island. It’s a first for New Zealand but follows the success of Britain’s Isle of Wight and Japan’s art islands Naoshima, Teshima and Shōdoshima.
A 40-minute ferry trip across the Waitematā Harbour, Waiheke has plenty to offer and is regarded by many as a jewel in Auckland’s crown.
Visitors from overseas and around New Zealand flock to its vineyards, world-class hospo scene, pristine beaches and scenery that feeds the soul. But numbers drop off dramatically in winter and this new strategy aims to bring tourists to the island all year round.
Waiheke Art Gallery director Fiona Blanchard, who is highlighting the move, says promoting Waiheke as a creative island will bring a much-needed boost to its economy in the off-season.
“There is something about islands that perfectly sets them up as creative crucibles – perhaps their physical separation, their elemental beauty and their attraction to creatives and others who seek to differentiate themselves from the mainstream,” she says.
“Our focus will be on cultural identity and strengthening Waiheke’s creative soul and economic sustainability.”
Building year-round cultural tourism will, in turn, help artists to have sustainable incomes, which Blanchard says will be through “low-impact, high-value experiences” that showcase Waiheke’s creative scene on a global stage.
Waiheke’s popular beaches – Oneroa, Palm and Onetangi – offer golden sand and turquoise waters. The island’s gentle, sunny slopes are dotted with vineyards, several with award-winning restaurants. Undoubtedly, the island’s landscape has played a significant role in the growth of its flourishing summer tourist trade.
Blanchard says the island is less well known as a creative island and cultural destination.
Waiheke boasts a number of creatives, including visual artists, musicians, performers and writers, attracted by its blend of natural beauty and slow pace of life. Since the 70s, when hippies and hipsters began arriving, the island’s artsy and bohemian vibe has become an integral part of island life.
The art gallery already runs events built around the island’s creative community, including the Open Studios at King’s Birthday weekend, involving about 50 artists. It’s an opportunity to step inside the workspaces and galleries of local creatives.
The event lost its momentum during Covid but made a popular comeback last year and Blanchard wants to build on that success. She says it’s one of many events with the potential to grow tourist numbers, domestically and internationally, over the winter months.
Fostering Waiheke as a creative island will enhance its reputation as a cultural destination and “a place where lovers of the arts and creative practitioners want to visit, imagine and work”, she says.
Local potter Sophie Perkins welcomes the move to promote Waiheke as a creative island, with one proviso.
“I’d like Waiheke to become known as the Art Island of Aotearoa if it’s done with sustainability in mind,” she says.
“I think there are certain problems that we have already with the number of tourists on the island. We have a fragile ecosystem, and the Hauraki Gulf needs protection.”
Perkins is one of many on the island who share an eco-friendly ethos, actively working to keep the island as sustainable as possible.
“One issue for locals is the number of large buses on the island over summer, along with the larger cars that come over from Auckland,” she says.
“It can make it difficult to ride a bike or walk places. Some of the buses and cars are electric, which is great, and if more tourists were to come to Waiheke to visit artists’ studios, then a sustainable transport system could be created specifically for this.”
Bespoke shoemaker Sue Engels, who also opened her studio for last year’s tour and will take part again this year, agrees.
“The island’s tourism needs to be sustainable. This [creative island] strategy has the potential to help this along,” Engels says.
“It would be far more successful for all visitors and locals if a long-lasting, good experience of this culturally and artist-rich destination, together with the nature and hospitality already on offer, were valued more highly than the current rush for numbers.”
Sculptor Oliver Stretton-Pow was drawn to Waiheke by its arts community in 2007.
“I was aware of the rich history of pottery on the island. The Sculpture on the Gulf exhibition had just started, which gave me the impression of an island of creativity.”
He also supports Waiheke being put on the tourist map as a creative island destination.
“I don’t know the details... but I believe any initiative to promote art and artist’s work and possibly generate sales is a good thing,” says Stretton-Pow, a regular participant in the Open Studios event.
While there will be an upside for the economy, negative feedback is expected from some islanders. There’s already some local sentiment that tourists are annoying and ruin the island in summer.
“Waiheke does have an active pushback fraternity, like most places,” says Stretton-Pow. “Any change will be viewed as a threat by some people.”
Blanchard believes the benefits of a robust visitor economy will have a positive impact on all who live on the island, not just creatives.
“Almost every island business and employee, from tradespeople to hospitality providers, benefits from our visitor economy,” she says
An island-wide strategy will be a framework to expand Waiheke’s creative economy.
“Waiheke is well known for its extraordinary natural environment, wine and food. We are less well known for the arts so programming events like the Easter Jazz & Blues Festival, King’s Birthday Open Studios, combined with other attractions, encourages visitors to stay on the island longer, benefiting retail and hospitality providers.”
Established Waiheke artist Anton Forde, who exhibits his sculptures and installations around the world, says winter is tough on the island.
“The energy the Open Studios brings to the island over those three days is something special,” Forde says.
Blanchard recently returned from a visit to the Isle of Wight, which rebranded as a creative island in 2023.
“I met with the Isle of Wight’s Creative Island team, finding many synergies between our island, including proximity to the mainland, community needs, creative legacy and visitor economy,” she says.
Blanchard says there’s a lot to learn from international destinations’ moves to grow cultural tourism but Waiheke as a creative island will “inevitably be very different” from those overseas.
She will be holding workshops with creative organisations on the island to develop a strategy, to be launched in 2027.
Having a cultural strategy, she says, will bring all the “threads together into a unified vision”.
“Not simply a destination with the arts, but a place fundamentally defined by its artistic life, where creativity is woven into the environment, economy and daily life,” Blanchard says. “For the Waiheke community, this vision will be realised with a deeply egalitarian spirit and connection to mana whenua and the environment.”
Open Studios Waiheke
When: King’s Birthday Weekend (Saturday, May 30-Monday, June 1)
Tickets: $18 (no charge for children under 15)
Waihekeartgallery.org.nz/events
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