An open day and a celebratory dinner were the highlights of festival week for the Dunedin Workers’ Educational Association – Te Wāhi Ākoranga o Ōtepoti. Since opening its doors just three years ago with an offering of five art classes, the South Dunedin-based WEA now delivers a comprehensive range of courses, from te reo Māori and Māori raranga (weaving) through to slow cooking on a budget and photography classes. Nicola Pye from the Dunedin WEA said festival funding enabled the WEA to showcase its eclectic range of courses and programmes to a group of potential new learners.

“We put on an exhibition of work achieved by our current students in the South Dunedin Community Network rooms and invited the local community to view the display. We were delighted to have over 50 members of the community attend and what was even more exciting was that by the end of the day enrolments for many of our term four courses were full. One of the most popular courses was art journalling and we have had to open the course up to increased numbers to cope with the demand.

“In the evening we ran a cookie decorating course for the committee and tutors which was lots of fun and then we shared a meal together at the local pub. This was one of the most valuable outcomes of the event because we all got to spend time together and got to know each other better. Because we are at WEA at different times, we don’t all know each other, so the relationship-building aspect of the event was fantastic. All in all, it was a really good day.”