Arts Council
Nelson
At Arts Council Nelson, our mission is to promote, initiate and support projects and activities that stimulate and strengthen the artistic and cultural life of our communities.
YOUR LOCAL ART CONNECTOR
We work with individuals and organisations across our region to facilitate all kinds of creative opportunities.
What’s on at Refinery ArtSpace
REFINERY ARTSPACE
Nelson Fringe Festival
Nelson Fringe Festival is an annual event celebrating the performing arts. Presenting work across a range of styles, including theatre, comedy, dance, improvisation, music, burlesque, circus and whatever else artists offer!
Embracing a full range of first-timers to seasoned touring gigsters, presenting around 50 shows in small venues across ten days, and always at an affordable ticket price.
Nelson Fringe have a theatre at Refinery ArtSpace 5-14 March.
Plus, they've set up Fringe HQ in the front gallery, Mon 2 to Sat 14 March, every day 12noon to 4pm. Pick up a brochure, have a chat about shows, order merch and buy lots of tickets.
March 5 - March 14
REFINERY ARTSPACE
REFINERY ARTSPACE
Paintings by Nicholas
presents a quietly immersive body of work where colour, surface, and rhythm do the heavy lifting. Moving between abstraction and surrealism, Clark’s paintings unfold slowly—inviting viewers to linger, notice subtle shifts, and bring their own readings to the work. It’s an exhibition grounded in process and intuition, where painting is treated as a space for reflection rather than resolution.
January 26 - March 14
Analog Decay Nicholas Males
Nicholas Males examines what lingers as analogue technologies slip into obsolescence. Working across object, print, and video, the exhibition juxtaposes forgotten systems with those emerging to replace them. Abstracted prints drawn from 1980s telephony advertising sit alongside video stills and scans of obsolete devices, collapsing past futurisms into the present.
At the centre of the exhibition are Arduino-powered LCD phones that feel both ominous and devotional—small, altar-like machines whose endlessly scrolling text issues warnings like a digital town crier announcing the end times. analog Decay reflects on technological faith, decay, and the uneasy space between nostalgia and inevitability in a rapidly shifting digital landscape.
January 26 - February 28
A VR walkthrough proudly supported by our partners Uniquely Nelson…
RAW 25
Refinery ArtSpace
Refinery ArtSpace is committed to stimulating and strengthening the artistic and cultural life of Whakatu, supporting a diverse programme of engaging community-driven and/or contemporary exhibitions, projects and events.
Comprising three adaptable gallery spaces and two large workshop facilities, Refinery ArtSpace is also the home to the Arts Council Nelson Team.
What We Do
Nelson Clay Week
Ceramists from across Aotearoa come together to learn, teach, build new connections and celebrate all things clay in a biannual festival.
Nelson Jewellery Week
A biannual celebration of contemporary jewellery in Aotearoa, for makers, wearers, and viewers.
Changing Threads
The annual National Contemporary Textile Fibre Art Awards, celebrating artists who stretch the boundaries of fibre and textile art.
Community Arts
We support and promote community arts opportunities across the Te Tauihu region, including administering funding and offering advice.
Make It Nelson
Make It Nelson is a curated programme of hands-on workshops running throughout June 2026 in Whakatū Nelson.
Arts Development Agency
We are transitioning to a future-focused development agency to better support the region.
Social Media
OUR NEWSLETTER
Get the latest local arts news, events and opportunities.