By Fiona Cameron – Chair Creative Coromandel

The Coromandel Artbeat Spring Festival kicked off on the 6th of September in Whitianga with the launch of CoroCine, a three-day local film festival showcasing the best in Hauraki Coromandel filmmaking. And in December, we see it ending in an experimental community music collaboration, Random Addition #3. From film, music, creative workshops, exhibitions, theatre, and all that comes between, our artbeat spotlighted our creative communities!

As we draw to a close, the coromandel artbeat had over 85 events signed up for the online event program between September and December in our tourist shoulder season, spring. We offer an ARTSplatform and free marketing and promotion to any event that is under this “umbrella” as we look to amplify their creative mahi, drawing audiences from our close urban centres and around Aotearoa and connecting our diverse artistic, cultural and creative communities – fostering a vibrant, inclusive community spirit around the Hauraki Coromandel rohe.

This year, our artbeat saw the launch of an expanded stand-a-loan website that communicated what our spring festival is about with pages like, what’s on, plan your trip, list my event, subscribe, resources and a much fuller gallery of event photos! We also expanded our marketing to our close urban centres, which was made possible by more funding and a dedicated team focusing on our festival program, communications, social media and brand. I want to thank the support and collaboration of Thames Coromandel District Council, Destination Hauraki Coromandel, Mercury Twin Cinemas, CFM, and many other local media, organisations, groups and creatives who supported this creative mahi; we made it bigger and better in every way this year,ngā mihi.

A few of the highlights this year from the coromandel artbeat were a local film festival that celebrated our very own filmmakers and their stories! Artists opening their spaces and studios, offering a glimpse into their creative world and beautiful work. Festivals that drew crowds and spoke to our diverse cultural landscape, music gigs that brought people together to dance and sing, concerts that uplifted us, and creative workshops that shared our artistic skills in restorative, natural places.

The power of creativity as a connector in our communities can be seen in all of the above. The coromandelartbeat tells the story of this diversity, connection, and community, all brought together under the one artbeat umbrella. Ka rawe!

We are excited about the 2025 artbeat and have new plans and ideas for next year’s festival, so stay tuned and keep watching our socials and reading our news to stay up to date. And start planning those creative events for next year’s spring festival!