The Urban Art Foundation UAF) celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. Over the past five years, the UAF has provided exhibitions on show to millions of New Zealanders via digital street signs and Parliamentary TV.

Urban Art Founder and Creative Director Andrew Hagen said, “We created The Urban Art Foundation to help make art more accessible, because not everyone lives near an art gallery or can afford to go to one. And, like most countries, we don’t have enough galleries to show our nation’s incredible art collections.”

Ki te marama, means ‘into the light’ and best describes what we do, says Hagen. With the help of Galleries throughout the country, we take the artworks out of the archives and put them where people can see them.”

“Five years ago, we were fortunate to connect with oOh!media NZ, who display our art exhibitions on its nationwide Out of Home digital network. This time last year we also connected with the Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. They gave us the green light to show our arTVox programmes on Parliament TV for 26 weeks of the year when the House is in recess.”

Nick Vile, General Manager of oOh!media NZ says, “We are thrilled to have partnered with the Urban Art Foundation over the last five years. We love Urban Arts vision of bringing great New Zealand art to the people and this aligns perfectly with our urban footprint of advertising funded street furniture. Through permanent fixtures on Lambton Quay and much broader distribution through our street and retail networks, we’ve been able to support that vision and bring New Zealand creativity to Aotearoa.”

Andrew Hagen adds, “Five years and 50 Exhibitions later, I’m still amazed at the range and incredible standard of the art created in Aotearoa New Zealand. Our exhibitions are on view to millions of New Zealanders every month, and we continue to be the only country in the world to present our Nation’s artworks in this manner, permanently.”

The Urban Art Foundation is a not-for-profit charity. Charities registration number CC59508

ENDS