Do you know what’s behind the gates of the big red barn in Tauranga’s Historic Village? And who’s the face behind it? Meet Simone Anderson, The Incubator’s founder and director, whose brainchild has grown and given the village and Tauranga a creative vibe.
WORDS: MARGARETE KRAEMER
IMAGES: VANESSA LAVAL-GLAD
HAIR AND MAKEUP: SOPHIE GARTH
Art didn’t run in the family. With her mother a teacher, her father owning a sports shop and her sister becoming a teacher too, Simone Anderson concludes: “I was an anomaly when I started drawing.” Her parents were self-proclaimed non-artists, but they were always supportive of Simone’s passion for art and art history.
Simone was born in Tokoroa and grew up in Tauranga. She read a lot but left school after 6th form because she didn’t want to study. Instead, hungry for experience, she worked for one year to save up, leaving New Zealand for her OE in London aged only 18. For a few years she worked as a nanny, in the hospitality industry and in galleries, and in 1990 was offered a job as a trainee gallery curator in Durban, South Africa. Simone, now 52, admits: “I didn’t even know what that meant at the time.”
A DEFINING AND ENDURING CONNECTION
Soon she was managing the art gallery and curating exhibitions. The owner of a top commercial gallery, Val Coppin-Shaw, was Durban’s doyenne of the art scene and became Simone’s role model and mentor. She is still a major force supporting emerging African artists.
After a few years in Durban and travelling, Simone returned to Tauranga. By then her parents had bought Pimlico Gallery at the top of Devonport Road. Simonehelped her father with picture framing, then took a job in another gallery, and basically worked some 20 years picture framing in Tauranga galleries, the most memorable being Harrison’s Gallery.
In 2001 Simone got itchy feet again and moved back to London. She worked as an HR person at a catering company, recruiting people and trying to retain a staff of between 150 and 200. It meant creating a company culture where people were not just doing a job. “This is something I strongly believe in. It was a lot of what I’m doing now too: building an inclusive culture, building social connections,” says Simone.
KIWIS COME HOME TO ROOST
In 2003 she and partner Mark, a South African, returned to Tauranga, expecting their first child. “We had Olive and 16 months later had twins, Ivy and Felix, so it happened quite quickly. We just rolled with it, and it’s turned out wonderfully. I can’t stand always being constrained by planning. I like things to be spontaneous and organic.”
For ten years Simone stayed at home with her children and when they were very young she started painting. “We had converted our garage into a studio. I spent that period being a full-time mum and a work-from-home artist.” From her studio she also ran an art school for children called Artery. “Later we pinched the name for the Artery in the Village,” she laughs.
A pivotal change in Simone’s perspective on art occurred when she became involved in large-scale, community arts mural projects. “It triggered a paradigm shift and led to what I do now at The Incubator.” (See next article)
THE BIRTH OF THE INCUBATOR
In 2013 the opportunity came up to rent the red barn in the Historic Village. This developed into the idea to build
a financially viable artist collective. Having worked in art galleries Simone also saw the big disconnect between the artist and the purchaser. “It’s sad to see these polite people standing in a gallery looking at pictures on a wall, with a glass of wine, not knowing the artist, not knowing what inspired them to create the work. We wanted to connect them.”
The Incubator was to be a space where emerging and established local artists could work and exhibit in a supported, nurturing environment. Soon the studios at The Incubator became home to a range of artists. Everybody had a different set of skills they could share with each other, leading to a creative groundswell thatdrove The Incubator forward.
“An underlying mission is to elevate the importance of arts, and arts as a career choice,” says Simone. “This includes enabling artists to eventually make a living as an artist and work in a professional studio; not painting at the kitchen table or in a spare room in their home,” Simone explains.
THE INCUBATOR
• Founded in November 2013 by Simone Anderson and two friends to grow and connect
what was a fractured creative community.
• Now home to 17 artists, two full-time and four part-time staff, and many volunteers.
• As a charitable trust, The Incubator relies mainly on public and private funding through grants,
sponsorships and donations
• TrustPower Community Awards: 2015 Commendation, Art & Culture 2015 Winner Regional Award,
Art & Culture 2017 Supreme Winner, Tauranga Community Awards
FILLING A GAP AND FOSTERING FRIENDSHIPS
When the next building came up for hire, Simone and her team opened the Artery. “The Artery and all other entities came about because we recognised a great need from the community and a gap that wasn’t being supported,” says Simone.
One of the drivers behind the need for, and success of, the Artery was that adult community education opportunities had all dried up after the government stopped funding evening classes. “There was a huge hunger for it so the timing was ideal, and at the same time we were helping our artists to support themselves as tutors,” she explains.
Another aspect is social connection – something we’re missing in today’s online media world, she concludes. Community education classes enable people to connect with real people in real life while sitting at a table painting or creating jewellery. People make friends. “Providing opportunities to create art together has a massive positive social impact.”
A GALLERY FOR THE PEOPLE
Next, Forresters Hall became available. Creative Bay of Plenty had just announced they were going to close their community gallery. “Again, we saw a gap and jumped at the opportunity.” The People’s Gallery is based on The Incubator’s overarching philosophy of ‘doing it together’. The focus is on group exhibitions and exhibitions not necessarily about artists.
“This gallery space has been so successful. Shakti Migrant Women’s Refuge used art to tell stories about issues such as domestic violence, which can be presented in a more palatable way through art. We’ve had everything from an IHC travelling road show to an exhibition made up of pizza boxes that included local homeless people contributing art to the exhibition on World Homeless Day,” she says. Annual school exhibitions are taking students out of the school corridors and into the community. There were exhibitions around Waitangi Day and Matariki celebrating Māori arts.
TWO IN ONE GO
Then two more entities opened in the same year: The Jam Factory and the Satellite Studios.
The Jam Factory music hub is a purpose-fitted, boutique venue reminiscent of a 1930s theatre with its own identity, and was a roaring success from day one. It sits in the old Otumoetai Primary School building that was relocated to the Historic Village in 2014. The Incubator was suddenly inundated with national and international acts booking it.
“Tauranga used to be left off their tour schedule because there was no Bohemian, loungy kind of place here. But these musicians wanted to connect with their audience, look them in the eye and have a glass of wine with them after the show. It’s the same concept as with the gallery: you take that commodity aspect out of art and put the performer or the artist back in touch with their audience.”
When The Incubator was at capacity for resident artists, the building opposite became available. Inspired by the Christchurch Arts Centre before the earthquakes, Simone wanted the building – formerly a museum – to become something similar: a place where people can go and see how things are made. “I wanted people to say: ‘Oh, it’s not just
a product in a shop that I can buy. Here is the person behind the product who’s involved with cloth, and she is sewing right in front of my eyes. And this is the person with their blow torch making silver jewellery.’”
The Satellite Studios are a humming place and in high demand for space. The current seven residents – a silversmith, two jewellers and designers, three clothes designers and a visual artist – are tenants of The Incubator Creative Hub family and pay a contribution to the overheads, which is nothing compared to city rents. “If you take the element of commercial risk away, you can push their potential to the surface. Artists can then focus on developing their product, building a reputation and growing their clientele,” says Simone.
A SPACE FOR MĀORI ARTISTS
The latest addition, Okorore Ngā Toi Māori, is a professionally curated Māori art space with three studios for an indigenous artist exchange programme, a gallery and retail space called Te Whare Taonga Gallery. It is in the old Faulkner House, another former static museum named after the family who lived in it. “We discovered the actual Māori name was Okorore and this historic homestead is very significant to Tauranga Moana Māori,” says Simone. When they were approached about the house it was a great opportunity to turn it into a platform for Māori artists to create and showcase their work. “We also wanted to put some mauri, roughly translated as life force, back into the building, which meant putting real people in there.”
It has activated a flow of practitioners from all around the area to whom Okorore now offers a place to create and sell authentic taonga. There are also exhibition opportunities and workshops, and its artists were hugely involved in Waitangi Day Festival and Matariki events.
CREATING A DESTINATION THROUGH ART AND CULTURE
Simone is adamant that Tauranga is an amazing city.
“It’s always had this reputation of being a cultural wasteland, which I totally disagree with. There’s always been a local arts scene, but we can help to enrich it by creating physical spaces for events, performances and exhibitions. We want Tauranga to become a destination that’s known for its creative vibe, not just about the beach.”
The introduction of Toi Ohomai’s Bachelor of Creative Industries has helped to retain young creatives, and Simone says part of the team’s role is to create pathways for graduates.
The Incubator’s vision is to create a cohesive and connected local community through art and culture. It aligns well with the new Historic Village strategy, which comprises hospitality and retail; events and entertainment; heritage and history; Māori culture; the social and community sector; and environmental and sustainability principles.
Medium-term plans include developing a fashion hub called Social Fabric and a community ceramic and pottery hub, which will give access to a big kiln for the whole region. This year will see the second Fringe Village Festival at Labour weekend and the roll-out of trials of Arts Prescriptions for organisations.
COLLABORATION INSTEAD OF COMPETITION
The Incubator’s position within the arts scene is clear. “We are not in competition with dealer galleries. They are a business; we are a community.” Some of TheIncubator’s artists have work in these galleries and are encouraged to do so. “It’s part of our nurturing nature to get them to that point.”
As for events, “We don’t go off-site because we’re in the best dream location here in the Village.” But when events come to the Village, The Incubator is happy to collaborate and offer its facilities for others to use, help to promote their events and contribute to their success.
The biggest challenge for Simone is the huge demand to keep fulfilling community needs and the speed with which they arise. “I’m a let’s-do-it-tomorrow person, but practically and financially that’s not the way it unfolds.” She laughs: “There are not enough hours in the day.”
PUTTING HER ART ON THE BACK BURNER
Simone’s favourite part of the job is seeing an artist or a group progress, and their confidence boosted. “And I’ve got the best team one could imagine,” she stresses. “Sometimes I pinch myself when I go to work about how fortunate I am to be working with these passionate, selfless, generous people. Every single person, whether paid or not, is living and breathing it.”
She is now mainly facilitating creative activity. “I don’t do my own art anymore, but I don’t feel that I’m hard done by. I get so much enjoyment and pleasure from seeing other people succeed in their own careers that it cancels out not having enough time to develop mine.”
Simone also tries to set aside more personal time with her family. She shares her house in Tauriko with her partner Mark, their three teenage children, a dog, a catand a magpie. There is an eclectic mix of art: some of it her own, some created by other artists, but everything carries memories and meaning. And while she no longer paints, she has found a new creative outlet: “The garden is now my canvas.” It is also a place where she relaxes and recharges her batteries to drive and develop The Incubator.
SIMONE ANDERSON
– THE ARTIST
- Painting and mixed-media art
- Recurring themes: anatomy, circus, old board games,e.g. snakes and ladders
- Represented by art galleries, e.g. Black Asterisk in Ponsonby,with solo exhibition Sideshow Emporium
- Solo exhibitions at Gallery 59 in Tauranga
- Wallace Art Awards finalist
- Commissioned work, e.g. for the ASB Arena foyer in Tauranga