We offer education programmes to suit all students from Year 1 to 13. Learning activities will be adapted to meet the needs of each year level and the relevant curriculum/NCEA objectives. We also develop curriculum-linked resources for each major exhibition to assist you before, during and after your visit.
All our programmes are FREE. If you would like to make a booking for a class, or would like further information please email elhams@hdc.govt.nz or contact the Gallery on 06 871 5095.
Our education programme is supported by the Ministry of Education’s Learning Experiences Outside the Classroom initiative (LEOTC).
Please see below for the current education programmes available.
The Water Project
The Water Project exhibition engages with the complex realities of water in the 21st Century – as bringer of life and ancestral voice, but also as a contested commodity and saleable resource | Until 24 March 2019
Billie Culy and Henry Lyons: At the Table
This collaborative installation by Billie Culy and Henry Lyons uses photography, found objects and audio to connect viewers with portraits of Hawke’s Bay people. Personal objects sit alongside photographs, accompanied by recorded interviews from each participant who we never see in person | 18 Feb - 10 May
Tuia – Encounters 250
In Kauri Hawkins' upcoming exhibition he takes a contemporary lens to James Cook’s arrival in New Zealand on the Endeavour 250 years ago, drawing on the iconography of basketball | 1 April- 21 June
Jan Nigro: Out of the Bedroom into the Lounge
An important NZ artist, Nigro is best known for her colourful celebration of the nude human figure, through which, perhaps unwittingly, she became a commentator throughout a period of immense social change in New Zealand | 8 April- 19 July
School Symposium
In term two we will run a School Symposium of Visual Arts and Performing Arts. More information to come. Keep in touch if you want your class to be part of this unique experience.
Student Public Art Tour
Bring your primary, intermediate or secondary school group for a unique, free walking tour to discover new ways to experience public art in Hastings CBD. Hear the stories behind our public art collection, discuss them in relation to the surrounding environment, and explore the importance of public art to the culture of a city.
Gallery Explorer: Drawing from Art
Free, hour-long art education programme, suitable for Years 1-13. Students will respond to what they see in the gallery through a range of activities including drawing, aiming to develop their own observation-based imagery.
Gallery Explorer: Looking at Art
Learning to look and how people ‘read’ a work of art. Students explore exhibitions at the gallery to practice close-looking and observation techniques while strengthening their visual literacy and visual thinking skills. NCEA: 1.2-2.2-3.2- 1.1-2.1-3.1 Duration: One hour, however, we can change it to meet your timeframe. Suitable: For Year 1-13 Cost: Free Available: Throughout the year
Hastings City Art Gallery | Social Stories
These social stories were designed for the gallery by Kelsey Hankins, to support families and schools bringing people with Autism Spectrum Condition and Sensory Processing Condition to the gallery. Please feel free to download the stories and adapt them to your own needs.