Creating the Afghan lounge

New Zealand’s cultural and ethnic diversity will be celebrated in style in 2007, with complementary programmes on offer from the Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna o Waiwhetu and Canterbury Museum.

The Museum will host Around the World in 30 Lounges, a unique and engaging exhibition that uses the family lounge as a window to ethnic communities and their home lives. Thirty communities in Canterbury will create typical lounges in the Museum, six at a time throughout March and April. Each lounge will have an accompanying audio guide and visitors will be able to walk from lounge to lounge, talking with people from each community and enjoying their hospitality.

Meanwhile, the Art Gallery is planning a series of public lectures and debates addressing biculturalism-multiculturalism, migration and national identity that will be both live and broadcast. This will be accompanied by exhibitions and a series of interactive weekend workshops to enable participants to learn about traditional crafts, skills and traditions from the different ethnic communities.

This project is one of four Arts and Cultural Heritage initiatives supported by the Todd Foundation’s Centenary Fund to “promote tolerance and build understanding of our cultural diversity”. We were impressed by this innovative concept and its collaborative approach and we look forward to the exhibition and events.