Art Auction For Refuge Won’t Stop For Covid

Women’s Refuge is delighted this year’s NZ Sculpture OnShore event is still going ahead, albeit in an online format, after the organisers were forced to abandon the iconic exhibition planned for O Peretu Fort Takapuna due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions. The auction launched last Friday and features more than 200 amazing works by New Zealand artists.

With the Covid-19 outbreak in Tāmaki Makaurau, the Friends of Women’s Refuge Trust made the tough but necessary call to cancel the hugely popular outdoor exhibition but, after also having to cancel in 2020, the Trust were determined to make this valuable fundraising event happen.

As Dr Ang Jury, Women’s Refuge CEO says, “Women’s Refuge are hugely grateful to the Friends of Women’s Trust for their perserverance and imagination in finding a creative way to bring the exhibition to life after its postponement in 2020. This is another example of the way these Covid-19 times have forced us all to look at the world differently and find new ways of doing things – fundraising included. Having to move the auction online highlights the difficulties that charities face in these uncertain times and the need to pivot from traditional fundraising activities.”

The Friends of Women’s Refuge Trust have taken the Covid-19 restrictions in their stride and have launched an online platform to view and buy over 200 works by up and coming and established New Zealand artists. NZ Sculpture OnShore is one of Women’s Refuge biggest fundraising events, with over $2m funds raised since its inception 25 years ago.

This year the funds raised from NZ Sculpture OnShore will go towards Kids in the Middle, an initiative to improve kids’ spaces in our 40 Refuges across the motu, and to providing a counselling fund for women that experience family violence.

The last event in 2018 drew 20,000 visitors who purchased an admission ticket to the exhibition. This year the Trust has set up a Givealittle page for those supporters who planned to attend the exhibition and who can now donate in lieu of a ticket. As the Trust notes, this is a great opportunity for supporters to acknowledge the work Women’s Refuge does in the community and make a contribution even though they can’t physically attend the NZ Sculpture OnShore Event.

Dr Jury, on behalf of Women’s Refuge would also like to thank the more than 200 artists who have put so much time and effort into the exhibition. Many have been waiting for years now to display their pieces and the works can finally be viewed by the public.

For the online exhibition, auction and Givealittle page, head to: www.sculptureonshore.co.nz

© Scoop Media