Christchurch creative hub announces inaugural Director

XCHC PRESS RELEASE
09.04.2015

Christchurch creative hub announces inaugural Director.

Burgeoning collaborative co-working and showcase space XCHC (Exchange Christchurch) has announced Jaya Mangalam Gibson as its first Director.

“We are thrilled to have Jaya on board" says Camia Young, Chairperson of the Exchange Christchurch Charitable Trust board. “Jaya really shone through the selection process as having just the right mix of creative, commercial and political acumen to help grow the XCHC and in turn support Christchurch’s creative community."

Based on successful co-creation spaces that emerged in Berlin in the 1990’s, XCHC initially opened 1st August last year in a refurbished Waltham warehouse. The space offers a productive environment where emerging creative practitioners of all disciplines can create and showcase their work. XCHC promotes the public exchange of ideas through an experimental and collaborative platform.

Jaya takes over the reins as XCHC’s director from the current team of Exchange Operator Harry Knight and Event Co-ordinator Nic Hetherington. Harry is spreading his wings and moving to the UK this month to work with the innovative Wikihouse UK.
“XCHC was a great experience that I enjoyed a lot and was essentially a brilliant springboard for me to take on my new role at Wikihouse.” Harry said.
Nic is now working on several events around New Zealand including the Isaac Theatre Royal’s first reopening production of The Phantom of the Opera.

“Harry and Nic have done a great job of getting things off the ground and I hope we have the opportunity to work together in the future.” Jaya says.
"I am really excited and grateful to be given this role. It’s an important time in Christchurch’s cultural history with the rebuild providing ample opportunity to embolden the creative industry and help it show the wider community how valuable it is in creating a better society for all. Helping to make the XCHC successful is a great way to do just that.”

Raised in a remote part of Scotland by beatnik parents who juggled fine-art restoration and medical research as careers, Jaya is no stranger to the arts and alternative scenes. Schooled in Scotland, the USA and London, with various creative project management roles in New York, London, Sweden, India, Singapore and New Zealand, he brings a wealth of international perspective and experience to his new role.
Originally trained as 3D animator over 20 years ago, he quickly moved to London and became a graphic designer when it was clear there wasn’t a lot of jobs going at the time. His teeth were cut designing key art and creating marketing campaigns for the likes of Warner Bros, Artificial Eye, Film Four and the BBC. Later on he moved onto branding campaigns for the likes of Holstein Pils, NFL Europe, Camel Trophy and Budweiser.

He had his hand in starting a New York based international newspaper - The Epoch Times - back in 2004 and ended up in Manhattan as the global marketing manager till 2011.
Before deciding to take up the challenge and move to the USA, Jaya and his wife Annthalina founded 3 Lotus Media Productions – an ethical marketing agency based in London, that serviced clients in the UK, Europe, USA, Australia and NZ.

In his spare time, Jaya often pursues his own passions of art and human rights activism, which includes photography and documentary making. Recently his time as an undercover journalist in Asia investigating the mass organ harvesting of Chinese and Tibetan prisoners of conscience was documented and published in a book last August called ‘The Slaughter’ written by investigative journalist Ethan Gutmann.

He hopes to bring his broad range of marketing skills and international business experience to the role.

Jaya explains: “I have always believed that the arts and creative industries have an extremely important role to play in society.”
"Not just in creating beautiful works of art but at the same time documenting, commenting on and challenging the conventional narrative on current events and issues is vital to a healthy culture. I think XCHC will be at the forefront of that happening here in Christchurch."

XCHC's unique space has been embraced by Christchurch’s creative community at large with the XCHC already having held over 40 events to date and over 20 tenants taking advantage of its inspirational environment. Every day is different as the tenants and events held in the space come from a diverse range of disciplines and mediums, from experimental coffee companies to artists, architects, designers, film makers and every kind of innovator you can imagine in between.

XCHC has big plans for the future including a cafe and bar due to open in May. “We are in the process of making the XCHC a desirable head quarters for the creative scene.” Camia says. “Once we have established a base here with a solid framework for running events and supporting emerging creative enterprises, it would be great to expand this concept to other cities and establish a nation wide collaborative network of creative industries."

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